Book hangover- Existential crisis overload

If you thought having a hangover is bad, trust me, having a book hangover is worse. You can't sleep it off, you can't take an aspirin to make it better. All you can do is wait, wait for another book to come into your life and inevitably lead you to another book hangover. I've gone through this first-hand.

My first experience was when I was thirteen. I had read the first two parts of the Hunger Games trilogy and was moving to the last part. I was pages away from finishing it when it suddenly dawned on me that in another few chapters I'll know the whole story, the whole conspiracy, the love triangle between Katniss, Peeta and Gale would be solved. But what do I do after that? After that sudden realisation, I read the last four chapters over four days, stretching it as much as I could. But when I reached the last page, tears started rolling down my cheeks, not because I got to know everything about the Capitol or Katniss and her relationship (no spoilers don't worry), I cried because I had finished the book. I had no idea what I'd do for the rest of my life! That's right, rest of my life. A bit dramatic, agreed, but hey I was going through a hangover! Then after a few days, when I finally got the courage to keep those three books back into the shelf, I got better. My friends helped me by suggesting a few books I could read to take my mind off the hangover and I started Percy Jackson series, which yet again led to a hangover, even worse that the one before.

The moment I read Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief, I fell in love with it! Soon I had finished all the books of the series with the hope that another series would come my way and all would be fine. And that series did come! Heroes of Olympus novels were, if anything, better than the first series because in this the Romans also got involved and played a huge part in it. (Again, no spoilers) For the past one week I was reading the last novel of the series. Before I could finish half the novel I started thinking, oh no! I'm going to finish this series too! I had grown extremely fond of Rick Riordan's writing and well I didn't want it to stop (though he is writing another series). Nonetheless, I read the Blood of Olympus and completed it at 11:40pm last night. The emotional end, the thought of the series getting over and another shocking truth revealed at the end, all of these things weighed on me and I couldn't shed a single tear. It was far more painful that for what I'd cry, far more unbelievable to cry about. I was hit badly with Book Hangover Syndrome. So much so that I was in half a mind to start reading that book all over again!

I just hope I'm able to find another series that lifts me from this hangover, even if it puts me in another such situation. I'll take my chances. Until then, I'm still living in the world of Demigods.

2k15- Another new year resolution

Dear readers, it has been long. A bit too long I suppose. But, I'm back! Here's wishing you a very happy new year. Thank you for being such a wonderful audience for 2014. I hope our journey doesn't end here and goes on for a long time, because I'll be here, writing. So my resolution for this year is to be more active on this blog and write fantastic reviews and poems. Let's see till when I'm able to uphold it.

New year resolutions have now lost their touch and meaning. They've become so cliched that not many take them seriously. But what we tend to forget is that a resolution is something for yourself, for your peace of mind, to see yourself achieve something, do something you never thought you would. It's one step closer to your dreams. You've always wanted to go to Paris, so your new year resolution probably will have "learning French" chipped in somewhere. You've wanted to start a small deli in your locality. So you resolve to do more cooking, spend more time with food and learn more about it. Maybe you want to look better for the next year, so you start the exercises, eating healthy food and all that goes with it.

This is the delicate balance between a new year resolution and what you want to achieve. All said and done, let's hope everyone is able to keep their resolution and more importantly accomplish it soon. A very happy new year to all of you, once again. 

Depth- The beauty of eyes in the form of a poem

Dear readers.

Here is another one of my self-composed poems. This one is based on green eyes. Without further ado, here's presenting, Depth.

Depth 

On that summer morning when we first met,

It was a normal day turned into a special one.

How I stumbled and saw your silhouette,

Shifted my eyes towards you to see who was this person who made me run. 

That was when I saw them,

Those beautiful, beautiful eyes!

Perfect and pretty at the same time, 

They felt like knives piercing through my heart. 

They were an amalgamation,

A puzzle of colours. 

The first one I could decipher,

Was green, as sharp as a needle pricking my skin. 

Green seeped into the iris,

Like water gushing into a dry lake.

It gave life to his eyes,

The way they danced in delight. 

Then came brown, with small specks of grey,

And a small black pupil.

It felt like staring at an ocean and watching the sun drown in it,

Like a million seas had come together to this one beach. 

The brown resembled the sand, 

The green and grey took shape of the water.

The black pupil, was more like a reflection,

Of someone in the sea. 

That was when I fell for them,

Their depth and their shine.

The way they danced off the sunlight,

It felt almost too good to be right. 

The Young Statesmen's Meet- My first MUN

Dear readers, after a long break I'm back in action with a review about my own experience of an MUN. For all those who don't know what an MUN is, it's basically a school version of the proceedings held in the UN. Schools conduct these Mock United Nations all across the world and our school had it's second inter-school MUN from 15th-17th December 2014.

The committees for this year's session were, the Eichmann Trial, the Bandung Conference, the Formation of USSR, Chernobyl Accident and the State Reorganisation Commission. Students could either take part as delegates and represent countries in one of these committees, or be reports and play the role of the International Press, or be part of the photography group. I was chosen in the International Press as a reporter for the Bandung Conference.

A quick recap on the conference- Afro-Asian countries who had recently gained freedom from colonialism came together in a conference in Bandung, Indonesia to discuss about good economic and cultural relations with one another. This conference was held in 1955 and the students here were to recreate the whole conference. The IP (international press) had to give articles for the daily newsletter. So, right from day one, we were bombarded with debates and other discussions and were expected to write articles and opinion-based editorials during the day and submit it by lunch time. By day two, we sort of got a hang of choosing topics and submitting them on time. Day three was all about interviews and press conferences. The State Reorganisation Commission held a press conference which later influenced the debate! In all other committees, delegates who were worth interviewing were asked questions and these interviews were then published in our newsletter.

It being my first MUN, I didn't know what to expect! I had no idea how to write reports or interviews and was very scared at first. Then, as the writing set in, I got a good idea of what was asked and delivered pretty good results. In the end, the experience was all positive. I got to learn so much about our history and politics, rethink about ideas and decisions taken years ago and write on topics that I wasn't very familiar with. Even though I didn't win any award, I took back a bunch of amazing memories, made some friends who'll stay in touch and had a total blast! But, the one thing I'm sure of after this MUN, is that I'm not going to stop writing because this is just the beginning.

New Delhi Palate Fest 2014- The one place all foodies must visit

Dear fellow Delhites, Nehru Park hosted one of the biggest culinary events in India, the New Delhi Palate Fest-2014. With top restaurants, bars and patisseries, it was heaven for any foodie. The fest lasted for three days, from morning 10 to evening 10. Stalls of Spanish embassy, Mexican embassy, Leela Palace, Red Dragon, The Great Indian Kebab Factory and many more were set up in and around the park. Prices were exorbitant, but the food was exquisite.

Getting straight into it, this fest was a convergence of all the top notch restaurants in Delhi. Some had an on-the go menu, a few had lounge type seating and others had take away. The Spanish counter had an amazing array of dishes, but my personal favourite was the paella. It was nothing but rice cooked in vegetables, but it had its own charm. Although it was bland and didn't have a good kick of spice, I wanted more. 

Keventers, an age old milkshake joint reinvented a shake, called the Oreo shake. That was heaven in a cup. Not too sweet or too cold, the shake reminded me of Oreos in milk. The Hungry Monkey was the next busiest joint. Right from lavish main courses to small take-away sliders, they were the best at it. Walking around the park, trying to choose what to eat and what not to was a difficult task. Leela Palace offered its spinach and ricotta cheese ravioli and the Great Indian Kebab Factory gave us it's best biryani. 

To end it on a sweet note, we had lemon cupcake with buttercream icing and strawberry tart from Sucré. As much as you'd like to go to a proper restaurant, spend a good amount of money and have a great meal, this was definitely better because in the same budget you got to taste a larger variety of food. So all Delhites unaware of this fest need to get themselves down to Nehru Park, Chanakya Puri because today (30th November) is the last day and the fest winds up by 10.

Angels and Demons- Robert Langdon's first adventure

Robert Langdon is your average university professor of the most unlikely subject, symbology. Life is normal and blissful until that one fateful night when his phone rings and he leaps into an adventure before he knows it.

Mr. Maximillan Kohler, the director of CERN, a secret scientific society, calls Robert Langdon in the middle of the night about the death of one of his fellow scientists who has been branded on the chest with an ambigram of "Illuminati". Robert, being a professor of symbology had all the knowledge needed to solve this murder and is flown from one corner of the world to the other within hours. He meets Maximillan Kohler and they go to take a closer look at the victim, Leonardo Vetra. Only then does Kohler reveal that the killer has taken Leonardo's eye ball, which is why he suspects the killing to be connected to his work. He calls Leonardo's daughter, Vittoria Vetra who explains the project she and her father were working on, antimatter. Antimatter is highly volatile and explosive and just a few milligrams could wipe off a small town. The power harnessed by it, if gotten into the wrong hands could cause huge mass destruction. Vittoria and her father had collected a pretty large amount of it, which was stolen.

Our journey begins from here, when Kohler gets information that the canister containing antimatter is somewhere in Rome and they had less than twenty-four hours to recover it. Robert and Vittoria leave for Rome and the Vatican City is also in mourning as the Pope had recently died and all the Cardinals were in the Sistene Chapel to elect their next Pope. With a race against time, the two get help from Camerlengo Carlo Ventresca, the person closest to the Pope, and try locating the canister.

Robert uses an old Illuminati process to retrace the steps of the Path of Illumination which leads him to four locations based on the basic elements, Earth, Air, Fire and Water. After he gets this information, one by one four cardinals are chosen to be killed. The first Cardinal is killed by earth, suffocating him by choking him on soil. The second Cardinal is killed by air, by puncturing his lungs and the third Cardinal is killed by fire, by burning him alive. Langdon understands the chronology of the events and goes to Santa Maria Della Vittoria Basillica but is too late to save the Cardinal. He is able to get a glimpse of the assassin who also kidnaps Vittoria.

To solve the mystery once and for all, Robert must find Vittoria and the assassin, complete the Path of Illumination and locate the canister containing antimatter.

Angels and Demons is a lightning paced novel with a brilliant storyline. It's a nail-biting experience right from the turn of the first page. The ending is a bit dramatic and unpredictable which some may find entertaining while others won't. The way Dan Brown shifts from one scene to another by the end of each chapter is want makes you want to keep reading. All in all, this is one of the best novels I've ever read.

Why should boys have all the fun?- A girl's point of view

I'm a girl in tenth grade from India. I study in a reputable school, have amazing parents who love me more than anything and friends who adore me. But by being a girl are there a few stereotypes that still go around schools, colleges and workplaces? I'm here to share my point of view and not to point fingers at people and accuse them of something. It's just my observations and I'm sharing it with the world.

Usually Indian schools have an annual day each year where they have a theme on which students perform. And I being a singer have been in the choir since grade one. So, as faithful as I am, I decided to participate in the choir this year too. Choir and orchestra together give a ten-minute long performance after which all students help in carrying the instruments (drums, keyboards, sitars) back to their respective rooms. These "students" are somehow always boys! I mean can't a girl carry a keyboard? Is she that fragile and weak that she'll be crushed under its weight? I don't think so. If we have women like Mary Kom and Martha Salazar, the world has tangilble proof that girls are no less! We can move mountains, tame seas and can change the world if we decide to.

As much as we'd like to believe that the world has evolved into a better society which respects every citizen regardless of sex, religion, caste or race, we can't deny that the third world countries still lag behind. India for instance has come out of the dark world of patriarchy and has learnt to respect and treat women as equals. But still girls face discrimination one way or another. It may not be something monumental but definitely worth fighting for. If a girl is portrayed as weak, shy, gentle and naive, the world will squash her like an insect and keep moving on. We as girls and women need to take the initiative to show the world that we are no less. We are a huge force that can overthrow any country, bring peace at any war and at the same time keep us healthy and happy. Women have a bigger role in everyone's life than what we give them credit for. But hey, I'm just a sixteen year old kid and chances of me being wrong are higher than chances of girls being bullied and being discriminated around the world.