10 Most Favourite Authors (All-Time)

Picking favourite books is very difficult. No reader must be subjected to it. The "favourites" list keeps growing as we read more and more. And, this is not just for books- but also for their authors! But, there are some all-time favourites that we all have. Especially, the ones we have read extensively because we just love the tales they spin out for us! So, here's a list of my top 10- in no particular ranking/order. 

1. J. R. R. Tolkien

2. Charles Dickens

3. Kalki

4. R. K. Narayan

5. P. G. Wodehouse

6. George Bernard Shaw

7. Neil Gaiman

8. Enid Blyton

9. Roald Dahl

10. Erle Stanley Gardner

It's not a fair list, and it doesn't have some of the authors whose books might make it to my top 10. But, these ten have given me a wonderful world of fiction that I have consistently loved and looked forward to! Enid Blyton and Roald Dahl are unbeatable when it comes to their way with children and adults, alike! Once you read Kalki's Ponniyin Selvan, Parthiban Kanavu, Sivagamiyin Sabadham- the historical saga leaves you yearning for more! 

Who are your favourite authors- the ones whose book you could give on any given day and trust completely to be entertained? Let me know in the comments!

Kidnap Poem by Nikki Giovanni

Authors, poets, artists- they have their own way of seeing the world. They can bring out the most mundane observations of daily chores to vibrant life, or can transport you to new, unknown worlds that bring you joy beyond measure- all through the sway of their words. They can get your feet back on the ground, or send you shooting into the stars. They can send you to the mountains or the sea, or sometimes both. They can make you laugh in delight, or weep in distress. They can make you fall utterly in love with the world they create for you. And, have you wondered how it would be when you get kidnapped by a poet? Read this beautiful 'Kidnap Poem' by Nikki Giovanni, to know how it is to be kidnapped by one!

ever been kidnapped

by a poet

if i were a poet

i’d kidnap you

put you in my phrases and meter

you to jones beach

or maybe coney island

or maybe just to my house

lyric you in lilacs

dash you in the rain

blend into the beach

to complement my see

play the lyre for you

ode you with my love song

anything to win you

wrap you in red Black green

show you off to mama

yeah if i were a poet 

i’d kidnap you

I loved this one since I read it a couple of days ago! Every story, every novel, every poem we read actually does send us to a whole new world, and that is the best part about reading books and poems! Hope you enjoyed it, too! Let me know in the comments!

3 Fitness Pages For Fun Workouts

You remember the post where I talked about Chloe Ting workouts and how much I loved them? They are great, but I need variations in my workout. I think doing the same set of exercises everyday without a little bit of a shuffling can get pretty boring, and demotivate you from actually exercising. So, here are a few other people and channels who are pretty great to follow for an exercise routine. 

1. Fitness Blender

I think Fitness Blender is great, and they have workouts that range anywhere from 5 minutes to a hour- so they have a wide variety of workouts that can keep you not-bored! 

"We believe fitness should be accessible to everyone, everywhere, regardless of income level or access to a gym. That's why we offer hundreds of free, full-length workout videos, the most affordable and effective workout programs on the web, meal plans, and helpful health, nutrition and fitness information." - www.fitnessblender.com 

2. POPSUGAR Fitness 

Do you love the original, structured versions of Zumba and Strong Zumba? POPSUGAR Fitness is a great place to go for it. They also really interesting range of workouts that incorporates Dance, Zumba, Boxing Fitness, toning workouts, etc. I like them a lot!

3.  Fit Body by Ashley

If you want a 100% fun, sassy, absolutely energetic dance/Zumba workout that burns calories when you are just dancing away with Ashley's irrepressible stamina, energy, and zeal- go here! This is my absolute favourite. Discovering Fit Body by Ashley was the best thing that happened on the workout-side during this lockdown. The vibe is just so, so very good, and her smile and energy is so infectious that you see yourself smiling all the way through her sassy workouts!

You have to try these three- I absolutely love them. And, when you keep alternating between workouts, you feel much better and more enthusiastic about it, which is important to keep it going! Try them, and have fun!

Cleaning Our Phones (Once In A While)

We download a host of apps constantly, and most of them use a host of permissions like camera, microphone, location, storage, etc. In the phone that I had earlier, I used to discover how I have apps that I almost never used. They were just sitting there, occupying the space and accessing all permissions, even when I had no use for them. Since that day, I have made it a point to check now and then what I really use, and try to keep just them on my phone! This brings more space, and also saves a lot of battery, apart from ensuring that your settings are safe. So, here's a checklist for you, too!

1. Check what apps you have, and filter out the ones that you need.

2. Go to your phone settings once in a while to just check and learn which apps have access to what permissions. If something looks unnecessary, you can turn it off or uninstall.

3.  I have found that a lot of apps that I used sometimes had a default setting for running in the background irrespective of whether I used it or not. So, you can change these settings and turn it off for apps that you don't require to keep running. This definitely saves on your battery, especially if your phone is a couple of years old.

4. I am a person who likes only the most necessary, basic notifications on my phone. So, most of the apps have the notifications turned off, so I can see them only when I go into the app. If you get distracted constantly by the notification of any particular app, maybe going through the list of apps in your settings can push you to turn it off!

5. Clean caches, unwanted/spam messages- not everyday, but at least once in a while, maybe?

6. Use google photos, and backup all your device photos. I have found some people having ten thousand or more all on just their phones. I think apart from taking up all that space, your phone crashing can leave you with losing all of it! Just turn on auto backup! Google photos app also has a cool "free up space" option that can delete the photos on your device after safely backing it up on cloud. 

How you have your phone is definitely your choice, but these can help you be better ready in case your phone crashes, or you have important data on your phone. So, this is more from the perspective of the safety of you and your data!

Why don't you pick up your phone and look through it? Weed out those unnecessary apps!

Writing Short Stories

Writing anything in a short, meaningful manner is difficult. Writing meaningful short stories is probably one of the most difficult things. And, I mean stories. Not any essay, not a personal experience, not a short scene that can create an impact even stand-alone. Nope. I'm talking especially about fiction.  I have immense respect and awe for short story writers. 

Mark Twain once said something that has rung truer than anything else, and in fact only a writer as great as him could have said that in the way he did.

“I didn't have time to write a short letter, so I wrote a long one instead.” - Mark Twain

To be able to write a meaningful short story takes immense effort. It requires the author to have so much clarity and conviction. It's like a hard, short punch that can send people flat on the ground- but that which takes immense amount of energy to be generated by the deliverer. It's a fitting challenge to incorporate all that you want, and yet keep it short. 

If you are writing a novel, then you need to just have a basic idea, and you can develop it in your own pace and fancy- through hundreds of pages. But, a short story needs the clarity of how it is going to end. That is the catch. Most of the time, starting is never an issue, and you will have a core idea. But, a story needs a suitable, believable, cogent ending, too. That is where short stories need a lot of creativity. Within those thousand words you write- you need to introduce your characters, develop them enough so your readers understand how they behave, place something they need and lack, give a plot that takes them through the journey of experiencing an emotion/situation, solve the story's plot-knot and wrap it up convincingly!

I always write short stories when I know how I'm gonna wrap it up. When I wrote Gripped In Doubt, I had the basic idea of a man seeing himself on TV as an accused and being confused. That's how it started. But, though the idea seemed interesting enough to tempt me attempt writing it, I was also unsure how I'd actually solve that case- which I eventually figured and wrote. But, it took a lot of thinking and imagination, and extrapolation in the natural flow of my thoughts. The first thing my dad told me when he read it was that all the while he read it, he was thinking about how I would eventually conclude all that build-up convincingly!

And, I have another short story coming, in which again I had to spend a fair deal of time to make it a neat flow. And hence, I wanted to put up this thought that has been stuck in my head before I put up the story tomorrow!

What do you think? Doesn't Twain's words ring too true!

Acceptance and Rejections

Acceptance and rejections: there is a fun observation in both. Before you start reading, this post is in no way cribbing about internships or the rejections. Acceptance and rejections are both welcome in the same tone. As I have already mentioned in one of my previous posts on CV, I genuinely believe that there is nothing to feel bad about if you don't land an internship, and there is nothing to feel too great about if you do get one. So, this one is just about the funny way some things tend to happen in life- like the length of acceptances and rejections.

The most common aspect of applying to internships is the number of rejections you get. Sometimes we realize how many places we have actually applied to only when the rejections welcome themselves to your inbox. Usually, every rejection pans out somewhat like this:

        Dear Sandhya Varadharajan,

        We have received your internship application, and our recruitment cell has gone through your resume. 

That's good. At least they have seen the application. The CV has been amped-up as much as humanly possible. So, all that's left to do was pray for some magic to happen that makes the recruiters believe that the CV is impressive, in whatever way possible. 

Thank you for showing interest in our firm.

Of course! Why not? 

Unfortunately-

Ah, that's the reply. Usually, after this word there is a whole paragraph of blah blah blah, but the crux of the email is "unfortunately". There are a hundred reasons why we might not get an internship. Sometimes, the firms are not recruiting, sometimes the slots are filled, sometimes they are just unable to offer us one. Most of the rejections also come with- we thought you are a very deserving candidate, and we would love to have you apply with us again. A positive reply would hardly ever praise you even if you were the most deserving candidate that they accepted.

My dad keeps saying, that only when the reply is a negative there needs a lot of explaining. When the application is accepted, all they need to tell you is accepted! This is so true, and I literally got a confirmation mail once, from a partner of a firm I applied to, that said:

Sure. Let's do it. 

Acceptance emails also just get down to brass tacks. It would be with something like: 

Dear Sandhya,
Please provide XXX details in furtherance of your internship with us.
Best regards.

Somehow, observing this in every single acceptance or rejection makes it so very funny. And, either way, this is the first thing that does come into the mind. After all, we are bound by a code of how things happen normally, I guess! Next time you get an acceptance/rejection- maybe take a good look at it, and break a laugh! Good luck!

Why It Is Important To Maintain An Editorial

In my earlier post on 10 Things You Can Blog About, I had mentioned how keeping an editorial list ready to publish on your blog can take your writing a long way, because then you'd have something to go up anyway, and you would be stressing about what to write for what would go up on another day. Primarily, this will make sure you aren't writing for the sake of just putting up something. 

Keeping a running editorial also ensured that I have a post for every single day, especially since I have been blogging for almost the last 9 months in a row. There are some days when I have other things to do, or some other work has to be given priority, and I might not have the time to work on a post as much as I'd like to. So, I always had a set of well-written posts that that could go up even on those days. But, did I warn you of a challenge that comes up with it?

Having a nice set of posts that are ready to go up each day also requires maintaining such a line of posts so that you don't have trouble for content later. Imagine you have 10 posts, and you have been posting one each day without writing anything new. You wouldn't even realize 10 days pass by, and will be caught in surprise on the 11th day. Sometimes, you make do with random thoughts in your head, written in a hurry. And, that is precisely what you want to avoid by maintaining the editorial. 

Take an example- like today. My mind was off on a couple of other things for the past week, until I come to realize that I have exhausted all the happy, leisurely posts that I had written. I hadn't read anything new either. So, I write a post on the thing that is on the top of my mind right now- why it is important to keep up an editorial. 

 The key to a good blog is writing regularly. For daily bloggers and writers, and generally all content creators, I think having a set of ready content all the time is very important. It ensures both consistency and quality with no compromises. It is a lesson well learnt, and I am looking forward to this weekend when I rebuild this precious life-saving stream of content that helps me on the days I am truly busy.

Where Do You Stream Music?

I have been using YouTube Music recently, instead of Spotify, and that is so much better. If you have a free Spotify account, then you basically spend listening to two minutes of ads for every three or four songs that you listen, and that is terrible. The worst part is, it literally counts the number of songs before it throws up the ads again, so it's not like ads pop-up every few minutes you listen to those songs. So, even if you are just shifting through songs on a radio, the ads are bound to hit you up. I have been listening a lot on my laptop during this lockdown period, and YouTube Music has definitely been better. Though, there are ads here too, these ads are literally just 5 seconds. Also, you have the option to skip to another song without having to compulsorily go through the ad!

Free Spotify also does not have half the good songs that you want to listen to. This hurdle is mostly overruled in YouTube Music. It has pretty much had every song that I have looked up for, and so far so good! There seems to be a disadvantage on the phone that if you come out of the app, the YouTube music stops playing/gets paused. This is not so on my laptop that supports android apps! It keeps playing on as I do my other things, and that is really convenient for me!

Free Spotify does not allow you to download songs offline. But YouTube music allows a certain number of downloads for free. It just makes it easier if you want music on the plane or on a train, or generally while travelling because that is when network is an actual problem.

I used to use Saavn, and I genuinely think it was much better than the free Spotify, though less appealing in how it looked. I have also heard that Amazon Prime Music is good, but I have never really tried it. But I think I am starting to like YouTube Music, and might just forget about Spotify in a while. 

Which streaming platform do you use? Do you have better suggestions or a playlist for us? Share it in the comments below!

Why You Should Use A Earphones-Case

I bought a earphone case a year ago, and that's probably one of the best things I have ever bought. I have a cute case with Baymax eagerly calling out a hi to me, and I love it. Here's 3 reasons why you should really get a earphone case if you don't have one.

1. You stop losing your earphones. I say you stop, because I know that majority of us lose it. It just happens. Earphones have become such an integral part of us that we literally carry it around everywhere. So, it's just easier to keep it safe when you have a case.

2. No more tangles. I know some people pride themselves over their tangled earphones. It just comes out like: oh god, my earphone is always tangled up, you know! Total feign. But, those who want it to be straight and clean (and usable), then use a case. It actually works. And, earphones that are not tangled up all the time actually lasts much better. 

3. You can carry it easily. You want to keep them in your pockets, throw them into your bag, carry it in your hand- the case makes everything easier. It may look like a event in itself to take it out and put it back in the case, but that's really not how it feels once you get used to it. I am so used to putting my earphones back in it now, that it's almost impossible for me to keep my earphones without the case!

Finally a brownie point- the cases are really cute. I love mine! I have a case with a metallic top, so it kinda sticks to the magnetic part of my laptop, so even the case doesn't get lost!

My dad's first comment when he looked at my case was why I didn't get more of them for all of them in the house! It's cute, it's protects your earphones, and saves you a lot of money. 

If you don't use it, take it from me that you should definitely think about buying one the next time you spot it!

Online Internships

Online internships are getting more frequent now, thanks to the pandemic. Here's a simple post on what we gain and what we lose from these internships.

Pros:

1. Flexible timing.

2. A more at-ease structure of the internship programme.

3. Way more work to do, and interesting topics to discover- because you save time usually swallowed up by commuting.

4. No dress code, you don't have to wear formals every day!

5. Better opportunities to talk to the directly to heads of the programme.

6. Saving a lot on stay, commuting, food, etc.

7. You get to learn a lot of digital tools, and also how to completely collaborate and finalize a project with a whole team- all sitting in the comfort of your home. 

Cons: You miss out on-

1. Experiencing a new city, new work culture.

2. Making incredible friends, and bonding over lunch break.

3. Chit-chatting with co-workers and associates above you (this can give a lot of insight into the firm, the business, the whole landscape of your profession, actually). Sometimes, a lot of the ideas can come up on a casual coffee break chit-chat.

4. Meeting the head people of the firm, and having an opportunity to discuss your own ideas with them. 

5. A lot of fun, and company lunches, and free ice-creams!

Both have their own charm. And, we'd probably never really pick to intern online unless something like a pandemic forces us to. So, it's good to experience when we have the chance to! I am on an internship online with a legal startup, and I am very excited about it! That is why I decided to pen my thoughts on the pros and cons, and I sure will let you know more on my experience when I finish my internship. Stay tuned!

Pen and Paper v. Online Tools

I wrote my first two full-length novels in my diary- with a pen on sheets of paper. And, as the years passed I completely shifted to writing online- in word/google docs/other writing tools. And, I have found that both of them have advantages and disadvantages. I decided to make a comparison table. 

	Pen and Paper	Writing On A Device
Ease of editing	You can edit. But it is definitely not the most convenient way to edit. You’ll have a lot of arrows and strikethroughs when you are drafting. You’ll have to rewrite them clearly again to make sense.	The best thing about online writing is the ease with which you can edit what you wrote. You can keep making changes and improvisations on your original text. You can add, delete, insert- all without any hassle whatsoever.
Distraction-free	Pen and paper wins hands down. You can turn off all distractions, sit with just a piece of paper, a pen, and give yourself to the story you see and feel.	There are many, many distractions. Even if you try to switch off your wifi and write on an offline platform, you just are a click away from turning it back on. So, unless you are super disciplined (which most of us are not), writing on a computer or laptop can definitely not be called distraction-free.
Completing A Story (Yeah, this is an actual criteria because one in a hundred story ideas actually reach the final form)	While you are writing on paper, you tend to be more involved in writing the story, rather than perfecting that one paragraph that you have managed to write. The story and your idea flows easier, and you keep writing. It is important to not keep editing while you write your first draft, and pen and paper actually helps with that.	This is the biggest drawback here. Since, editing is extremely easy and convenient, we tend to try and perfect/rewrite a single scene while there is a whole story left to be told. It takes much more to progress while writing online.
Environment friendly	Pen and paper is not really environment friendly anymore, looking at the rate at which we have managed to deplete resources.	This is the truest and most important advantage of this medium. We are saving hundreds of thousands of trees from being cut down for paper if we all shift to writing on a system.

There are also other miscellaneous advantages and disadvantages in both. But, if you notice- the biggest disadvantage of pen and paper is editing, and that itself actually helps in moving forward and separating the process of writing and editing, thus making it easier to complete what we write. However, the advantage of being able to save paper, and also make the editing process a thousand times easier are significant advantages.  

Although I might have preferred pen and paper earlier, I have used the online mode for quite a long bit now. And, having realized its disadvantages of getting me stuck on perfecting a couple of paragraphs when the whole story awaits telling, I have worked on my mind: consciously to push forward and keep editing only after completing the draft. This takes time, and I still don't follow it all the time, but the benefits we reap by saving paper, saving trees are so starkly important.

Which medium do you prefer writing in, and why? Share them in the comments below!

Taglines

Taglines. They bring a world of difference to whatever we go. In fact, I think sometimes the taglines talk more than the name or the title. 

Nike- Just Do It

Apple- Think Different

Coca-cola- Open Happiness

My most favourite library in Chennai that I grew up reading all the books I had read till my schooling was Eloor. The library branch in Chennai shut down, but they had a tagline that is still very close to my heart, and that which rang true with the very essence of that huge, wonderful library: For love of good books! Eloor did absolute justice to its tagline.

Taglines are not just for companies or brands. They can be for anything, including blogs and even blog posts. They all tell you something about the brand/blog/article/post/whatever that is you are viewing. A tagline is supposed to help anyone get to know very quickly, in a manner catchy, short, and sweet, what they should be expecting.

When I started this blog, I definitely wanted to have a tagline and I looked into defining what my blog was primarily going to be about. I write a lot of things, but what gives my blog its primary identity is the books I read and the reviews I write for them. I read regularly and I write a post on every book I read. My blog is just a huge repository of all that I have read since 2010! And, what does that give my readers? A reading list across varied age groups! Because I grew up with these books, the books are in the natural progression of an actual reader, and it feels like an index of books with a review by me on each book. 

And, that is why, I chose the tagline that tells you exactly what to expect. It is a blog on 'What to Read'. Taglines can be of various tones. It can talk about the spirit, the function, the motto- anything! But, a tagline helps immensely. For all the bloggers out there, do you have a tagline? If you do, share it in the comments with your blog links! And, if you don't, go with what you feel, and: get set thinking! 

Happy Saturday! 

A True Artist (In My Imagination)

I am not great at sketching. Probably because I rarely draw, and I have very less patience. The enthusiasm with which I start sketching frizzles out in a while, and then I'm in a rush to just get done with it. Oops, sounds like just how it shouldn't be! But sketching is also a lot of fun. 

I sketch once in a while, and it's usually simple things in my memory. For example, you can see my sketch that I've put up with this post. It was just one out of the experiences that I had in Mumbai last year- with a lot of ice golas and desserts in it! The drawing definitely (and obviously) looks unpolished because the artist is a highly unpolished one. But, the main point that I'm trying to make is: it is a lot of fun to just recreate your own sweet memory! 

Do you remember how in The Little Prince the pilot, in his childhood, attempts to draw and is discouraged by adults because they thought he wasn't really good enough at it? Remember: don't let them steal your magnificent career as a painter and an artist, at least in your imagination.

Sometimes, we do things just because they were momentarily fun to do, and not because we are passionate about it, or think that we have a career in it, or because we are good at it. Simply, we like it. If not all the time, we enjoy it at least that one day or one hour that we do it. And, we don't do it often, but that one-off time is still happy enough! One such things is sketching for me. I cannot call it a hobby, I cannot call it a talent, and yet I do it sometimes and it makes me happy!

I drew this on Adobe Sketch. Do you have that one-off activity that you really enjoy? How do you like my (undoubtedly brilliant) sketch? Let me know in the comments below! 

Correcting Grammar

People tend to make grammatical errors, structural errors while talking in English. I have seen people who don't correct at all whoever it is, and I have also seen people who immediately correct anybody at all who makes a mistake. I don't agree with both. 

Correcting a person immediately can have many drawbacks.

1. It cuts off their flow.

2. It can make them less confident about what and how they were going to say what they were saying.

3. It can be mean, sometimes (even if you don't do it with mean intentions).

4. It shows you have no idea why a person might not be great in that language.

On the other hand, if someone close to you is making an error constantly, there is no harm at all in openly talking to them and correcting them. In fact, they'll understand better and might not face such a situation again. At any point of time, the correction must be said in a manner that is educating for the other person, rather than making it sound like you are just out there to find faults. 

I have had friends who have been more than happy, and in fact have voluntarily asked me to review what they speak and correct errors if I find any. And, the same applies to writing. It is alright to move with the person and their way of expression, as long as you get what they are trying to say. Remember, you might just be worse in so many other languages. Languages are many, and everybody is not required to be an expert in the same language.

You should definitely take the opportunity to teach people, and help them become better and learn more. What matters is how you do it. Wait for them to finish what they are saying and reply to their questions or statement before you correct them. It is important to acknowledge the content first, before you jump into correcting their structure. Your correction has to encourage them, not demotivate. It has to make them more confident about what they learn, and not make them lose the little confidence they have. 

Most things in the world work that way, especially when you teach someone: it's not about what you teach, it's about how you do it. 

Brighten Your Post With The Right Pictures

Two things play a major role for someone to even start reading a post.

1. Title

2. Image

Pictures are important. Photos, images, illustrations, graphics- they all bring attention to a post. They spark the interest in the reader to go ahead and read the post. In fact, even before we look at the title, we look at the image associated with the post. Our eyes naturally fall first on the picture and then move up to see the title. That is why it is essential to have a catchy title, and also a catchy photograph. 

Photos can be funny, moving, informative, descriptive, beautiful, and much more- and each of these type of pictures have their own role and contribution. What type of picture you choose for your post will also influence the tone with which the reader will look at what you have written. For example, for a serious subject,  a funny cartoon might tone it down a bit. If that is the intention, then it is one of the greatest tools to put a subtler impression on your readers. But, if it is not the intention to make it more subtle, then a funny picture can actually derail the whole tone of your article/post. The other way round is also true. A very serious picture for a funny/humorous post can make the reader confused about whether the writing was actually meant to be funny. Long point short: pictures speak a lot more to our subconscious minds than we care to notice.

There are many resources today for finding pictures. One must always be careful of the credits that go to the picture. Also, not all pictures can be freely edited or modified. Some pictures are allowed for reuse while some others are not. Some are allowed for reuse with credits while some others can be reused freely without crediting or linking back to the artist. Some pictures are allowed to be modified while some are not. So, one has to check these things before using photos digitally. 

We all search on the web and just insert photos from there without thinking. A good way to filter pictures on Google according to your preferences is to use the "Tools" under Google Images where you can filter pictures according to the user rights enabled for them.

This is especially useful for all students who use images for projects, and also bloggers like me who constantly look for good pictures for articles and posts. I learnt of this pretty recently, and thought I should share it (just in case someone didn't know about it- like me)!

Pictures brighten up your post, and you should definitely use them to your advantage! But always give credit where you can (even if the image doesn't need credit)! Happy writing!

Haircut Episodes with Mr. Bean

What comes to my mind when I first think about a haircut, especially cutting my own hair? Mr. Bean. Mr. Bean has done it all. And, the confidence I have on myself is the confidence I have on Mr. Bean. Well today, I tried to cut bangs by myself (and it turned out fine), but all I could think of was the two crazy Bean episodes- one from the animated series, and the other where Rowan Atkinson performs.

Have you seen that episode in the animated series of Mr. Bean where he decides to cut his own hair? Well, that was the first thing that came to my mind when I thought about trying to chop my hair. And, that's not exactly a great first thought! The episode is titled The Haircut. Well, you don't know whether this one encourages or discourages you to get an eccentric cut. Because, one it shows how wrong it can go, and two it shows that people actually love wrong styles which seem to be done on purpose!

Do you remember the other episode in the Mr. Bean played by Rowan Atkinson, where he tries to cut other people's hair. In that episode, he cuts the hair of a small boy by tracing the perimeter of an inverted bowl that he places on the boy's head, and chops off the entire pony tail of a man who just wants his split ends trimmed. The episode is called Haircut Bean. 

Mr. Bean is the best. This is one show we can never get tired of watching and re-watching. I spent 20 minutes watching those episodes today, and what a laugh! Also, what a scare! Anyway, I successfully trimmed by split ends and also cut my bangs, without Bean-level-experiences. 

Miss watching Bean? Has it been years? I have given the links to both the episodes! Have a fun Thursday!

What Kind Of Posts Get The Most Views?

Continuous, regular blogging has given me the opportunity to clearly see what kind of posts get the views. It's not possible to analyse this without blogging regularly, because then the number of views is affected by the irregularity itself. While the stats have definitely shown an unbelievable(but totally believable) growth, there is still some types of posts that get more attention that others!

To begin: what do I write about? I write a lot of-

1. Book reviews

2. Movie reviews (sometimes, because I don't really watch a lot)

3. My thoughts on almost anything at all

4. The food that I try preparing, with their recipes

5. About things that I try learning, and the tools that I use

6. Fillers: those kind of random posts I write in between the posts I seriously write

7. Stories

There are also other kind of posts, but you could probably majorly classify them to these kinds in the past year. What gets the top views is the fillers, I guess people like reading random stuff that may not make a great addition to their knowledge or experience, but are nevertheless fun to read. Usually, these are my memories from school, or me writing about a mundane observation. The next thing that gets the viewers queuing is my stories, and this makes me very, very happy. I write short pieces, and I even tried writing a series of chapters with a running story line titled Murder In Beltour. I was so happy with the amount of people who read it and got in touch with me to tell me how much they liked it! People also appreciate with a really startling number of views when I talk about a new learning or a new tool. I guess this might be the kind of post with a take-away, introducing cool tools that make life a little bit easier!

But, my blog is about and has primarily always been about: what to read. I read a lot. I love reading. I have loved reading since my Famous Five years, and I love writing about what I love in them. It has made me so happy in the last 6-7 months when so many friends have taken the time out to text me, saying: 'Hey Sandhya, I picked this book up to read only because I saw your review of it, and I love it', or 'Hey, I didn't know about this book, it seems really cool- I just bought it to read'. It makes me very happy that a review can make someone want to read it. 

And yet, the blog does have things to offer beyond books. I have had a couple of friends who are not much into reading that they enjoy other posts where I talk about my thoughts or experiences. One even joked that they get to read so many books and know about them without reading them (though I told her that's not what the reviews are for). My point is, I am happy to have so many happy readers. Recently, a very kind, happy reader left such a sweet comment on the blog!

I will continue writing all these kinds of posts, and I hope you all get something out o it! Let me know in the comments what kind of posts you love reading!

Wait, are you wondering what kind of post this was?

Tanmay: A Poetic Feature

Studying in the University has many perks, one of them being meeting interesting people with an abundance of talent. It is also the time all of us tend to work on ourselves, and explore what we have always wanted to do. Today, I have the pleasure of featuring a very talented poet, and a dear friend since the past three years from law school- Tanmay Raj Anand. 

It all started out as an interest in literature, with his mom introducing him to fiction since a young age, and the joy of fiction undoubtedly made a lasting impact. He wrote his first poem in the April of 2016, when the woes of figuring out a career post-schooldays were finally put to rest, and he found time to write. His first ever poem was one titled Trinkets on a Shelf, and that opened an array of windows for this young teen who found that there seemed to be the right words and ways in poetry to express the 'barrage' of emotions and experiences of a rebellious teenager. Tanmay says,

"The poems that I wrote then were not good, they were terrible actually. But I knew I could improve."

Well, I say, everything starts that way! Even this blog is a testament to that- you can see my growth as a writer, blogger, reader, thinker- all from scratch! And, today what I can say about Tanmay is that I truly believe his poetry will be a pleasant and nourishing discovery for all who read. 

Tanmay writes poetry for the sheer charm he feels by writing about his own experiences in lucid words. To him, poetry is a form of expression that can both heal troubled experiences and also help you grow. Everyone has their own mode of expressing and processing their emotions and thoughts. To me, it is writing. To Iah, it is music. And, to Tanmay, it is the evergreen art of poetry. 

"There’s also immense beauty and skill involved in making the banal things of daily life sound exciting, and I appreciate writers such as Henry Miller and Haruki Murakami for adding meaning in newer manners to routine stuff. Writing poetry thus becomes a form of meditation, it gives me a high, and the process of writing poems is so lucid, intoxicating, fleeting and limited- and, I let it possess me for that short amount of time just so that I can feel the satisfaction of a poem well written."

It is the thought and perspective of this budding poet that his poems mirror his own growth, and I couldn't agree with them more. Tanmay's command over the language and the ability to string words that are poetically admirable are absolutely impressive, to the say the least. 

The young poet is an ardent admirer of Charles Bukowski, and is quick to dole out his name to others when asked to suggest a poet who can incite the love for poetry in someone who isn't at all much exposed to poetry. What he most loves about Bukowski is the poet's realistic and unapologetic style of writing. 

"I’d tell anyone to read Bukowski as he really changed the game."

He also suggests Freedom of Love by André Breton, You by Tom Clark, Blocks by Frank O’Hara, and The Liberator by Emily Holmes Coleman, and poems of Sylvia Plath.

Although Tanmay doesn't have a particular 'goal' or contribution in mind for his poetry, what he does wish is for other people to read and remember him for his poems. Words are truly immortal, and there is no better way to remember a person than for what they do passionately! And, I think Tanmay's poetry are sure to strike an impressive chord in terms of languages and exploration of themes! 

Talking of themes, my dear friend has been on a full-on experience writing surrealist poetry. His favourite poem amongst what he has written happens to be one titled Automated #1 that was written using a very popular technique of surrealist writing called “psychic automation”. It involves writing down your thoughts quickly without necessarily editing them immediately, and moving on to the next thought as fast as possible. 

"Automated #1 turned out to beg much better than i had expected from the technique. It was replete with images and had layers of deeper meaning and a logical flow to it which came about naturally rather than through editing."

Tanmay has been featured in Bitter Fruit Review’s Summer Edition 2020, and also on Fitoor Open Mic. He has also recently started his blog 'minutes of my heart', as a sincere attempt to write more regularly. It features his thoughts on random things that cross his mind including philosophical musings, music, experiences, and sometimes poetry- all written in a short, sweet, and fun-to-read way.

Apart from poetry, our friend here is an avid reader, who likes to also sketch, and is now trying to foray back into exploring music again, having acquired a pair of bongos recently! Do check him out on Instagram @tanmayay where he regularly puts up his poetry. I can assure you they are a pleasure to read!

Tanmay is very dear friend, and I'm proud and happy that I can introduce his talent to a wider audience!

Paneer Paratha

An alternate picture- because I didn't
really hit it up with the toasty smell
of parathas. At least, we can smell
the weekend!

I tried making Paneer Parathas today, because its recipe seemed way too simple to not try. However, the result was a little different from what I had expected. Let me tell you how I made it!

What you need: atta, oil, paneer, onion, ginger, garam masala, cumin powder, chillies (if you prefer), coriander leaves, salt.

1. Prepare chapati dough (take the required quantity of atta, add salt, add a spoon of oil, mix it well, and slowly knead it by adding small quantities of water every time until it becomes a dough)

2. Grate paneer; finely chop onions, ginger, and coriander leaves. Put them all in a big bowl. Add garam masala, salt and cumin powder to taste. You can add finely chopped green chillies to this if you prefer. Toss them all well so that the masala and salt coat well.

3. Divide the stuffing and the dough into corresponding equal amounts. 

4. Roll out the dough, then keep the stuffing in the centre and fold the sides to cover the stuffing. 

5. Flatten out the dough again as much as you can- to the point that the stuffing doesn't come out. 

6. Cook them well on the tawa. Add generous amounts of ghee to enhance taste.

I did all of these steps, and it was great while doing it- seemed right. But I think the amount of stuffing that we prepared versus how it tasted was kind of misleading. We used 300g of paneer and one big onion primarily for the filling, and it definitely looked like it was more than enough for 4 people, and in fact it looked like there was a lot more than we needed. But, in the end result, I had only one feeling while eating it: where did all the filling go?! Somehow the filling wasn't at all enough to feel the taste well, I thought. 

Factoring in today's experience, the amount of paneer that seems to be required takes me by surprise. Probably, we're better off doing a paneer dish to pair with rotis, rather than making a paneer paratha. Anyway, doing it was still fun, and it looked really nice while doing it. My dad was just telling me today: appearances are deceptive! Also, I don't have a picture to show you. But, you have another picture up- a happy reminder!

But I am sure, that with the right quantity (which seem to be a lot) of stuffing, the dish would have been very, very tasty. So, if you wanna try- you know what to look out for! 

A Solution for the Woes of Packing (Light)

In the last three years, I have frequently flown between college and home every semester. And, the first thing that anyone faces when they fly is baggage! There is a "student" allowance that most airlines give for extra baggage, but it still is a big deal to get all you want in place, within the allowance. 

When you come home every time, you are sent back with a host of things apart from what you brought in the first place. Moms have a separate list of 'essentials' that they will definitely pack and send along. So, how do you pack it all in the suitcase you get and how do you make sure you're within your allowed baggage weight? Sadly, there seems to be no magical shortcut to this. 

1. I had to plan and get the stuff from college to home- only what I absolutely need.

2. There is a way to pack. I think the best way is to apply the well-known rocks-pebbles-sand story in practice! 

For those of you who don't know, here's the story, just in case: You have rocks, pebbles, and sand that need to go into a jar. How do you put them in so that all of them can go in? If you put the sand in first, then it would occupy most of the space, and you will not have space for all the bigger rocks and pebbles. So, you put in the rocks first- meaning you put the bulkier, heavier clothes first (jeans, pants, skirts, shoes, etc.). Then you put the pebbles- which are smaller than rocks but bigger than sand. They tend to fit into the bigger gaps between the rocks- like your shirts, tops, and other things. Then you put in the sand, which can go and occupy every other space available- and these are all the rest small things that you need to pack. While the story is said in a metaphorical and philosophical sense, it makes our job much easier to actually use it for filling up the suitcase! That's what I do every time.

3. If you have a bulky shoe, or anything else like a jacket, carry it on you. Wear it for the journey. It gives so much space for other things to fit in without increasing your load, too. 

4. Don't fill up the suitcase to it's maximum capacity while going home because you are bound to carry more things in the same suitcase when you leave home. 

These are some of things that I always do. Do you have a hack that you follow? Let me know in the comments!