Bookmarks and Popcorns

October month is the month for my spooky buddies. You all know why! It’s the month of Halloween. Of course, we don’t particularly celebrate Halloween in India. It’s not a holiday for us. But years have passed. Earth has revolved a lot more number of times. Cultures have influenced in many ways. Some Indians celebrate Halloween by throwing costume parties. But most of us just sit and watch horror movies just like the rest of the world. Why? Come on! We live in a digital world and our virtual life is more happening than our real life. And when we have a more happening virtual life, we will easily get charmed by the rest of the world and enchanted to join them. I am not saying I am very proud of this aspect of me. I am just saying I know I am not alone in living this life. If you are shy and ashamed and admit to this part of your life. It’s okay. You don’t have to admit it. Just stick around because, you know, birds of a feather, go crazy together. Anyway, as I was saying, Halloween t...

How many of you have looked at the back of your sunscreen bottle and noticed a CAUTION note? “For external use only”, most of the bottles say. Every time I read that caution note, I wonder to myself, ‘Which kinda idiot thinks sunscreen lotion is edible and consuming it is how you protect your skin and it’s tone from the sun?’ ‘Probably the same type of idiot who thinks the best way to booze, while the liquor shops are closed, is to drink hand sanitizer’ I would reply myself. How many of you have read, “If it irritates your skin, discontinue using it” at the back of a sample product?! Major facepalm, right?! I mean, how many douchebags out there persistently use a sample product in spite of it giving them a gory rash? Ridiculous! The moment I mentally laughed at these things, my brain got a cue to pick up a ladle, dig deep down into a mound of unforgettable embarrassments of my life and coercively pour it all over me until I am racked with a sambar of awkward- thrika ...

Every time I stepped out of my house and bumped into some neighbourhood aunty or uncle, the first thing I hear, before or after the basic greetings, is, “What, Kanna, you have become so fat” I never knew if it was a question or an exclamation. Either way, it was offensive. Regardless of whether words like “Kanna”, “Chellam”, “Kutty ma” are added or not. And he/she seemed to have no awareness or care of how mean and catastrophic such a comment could be. Now imagine getting these comments mostly at the start of your day. Long before the breach of COVID-19 into our lives, I had a habit of going for a walk by the beach. Every day, I woke up at 5 a.m., did my morning rituals, wore my tracks and tees, pulled back my hair into a high-pony or plait, tied the lace of my running shoes, and left home by 5:30 a.m. I took my Mobile, headphone, smartwatch, some cash, and a napkin along with me. I drove myself to the beach and parked by scooty in the service road. I used my Adidas Running App and S...

To start with, there’s nothing much I miss, actually. I am a CS student who stayed at home all the time except for the 2 hours class, 1 hour meander travel, more and less, and 1-2 hours of miscellaneous excuses to be out of the house. At home, I had an imperative routine of eating, sprawling flat on the floor and staring at the ceiling, eating, watching some movies on laptop or TV while I eat (or vice versa), scoring half a century for the number of times I open and close the refrigerator, watching YouTube videos about how to be productive, eating, listening to motivational speeches to prepare myself to be productive, eating, arranging my bookshelf, cupboard, room – sometimes even the shoe rack – so that I won’t be stopped by my unclean environment from being productive, actually studying for an hour or 2, and sleeping before I realize it. It was de rigueur for me to wear clothes such as shorts and loose tees so that I was ventilated enough to endure the undue heat. At the day time, I ...