Bakwas Bath

' Here am I floating 'round my tin can , far above the moon Planet Earth is blue , And there's nothing I can do.'     Thus concludes David Bowie’s epic space ballad; the bittersweet tale of a lonely Astronaut stuck forever in the vast oblivion of outer space. The song however cuts deeper for the more impassioned fans of Bowie, who identify it as the late singer-songwriter's struggle with his own loneliness and depression. And today in the pandemic ravaged world, its core message rings truer than ever before. Reading an article in the Harvard Magazine entitled ‘The Loneliness Pandemic’ I was left both shocked and comforted by how strongly I related to its contents. My struggles I found out were not all unique but in fact as much a trademark of my generation as effeminate East Asian pop stars, bizarre feline humour and unhealthy obsessions with early 2000s’ sitcoms. The ubiquitous nature of loneliness today indicates a failure of society on a more fundamental leve...

  All great writers have written in their time,   But who has written about what they have written with;   I talk of the pen, a writers partner in crime   And I will use mine to write only about it.     The pen is perhaps the greatest invention of man,   Maybe not in design, impact or exuberance;   But the sheer power that flows from its tip   Has created Gods out of ordinary men     ' Power ? ' -you say . ' Surely a weapon can cause a lot more pain   Than a plastic cylinder with a bit of ink ?   What power can you see in the humble pen?   After all it is just a fiddly little thing. '     Yes what you say is true, Weapons can cause a lot more destruction   It can flatten mountains and reduce our world to dust and rock;   But can It make your blood boil ? Can it make your soul Burn?   Now pen and paper, that's the stuff legends are made of.     Words can make men rise to peaks...

Motivation is a promiscuous bedfellow  -Chirag Roy I quote this all the time to friends, family and anyone else who would bother to listen to my meandering train of thought (often masked as life advice). I felt ridiculously wise when I first came up with this line. This is it I thought; the bedrock of my inevitable TED talk which will hit 20 million views and propel me to a life of internet stardom. I had all but started googling ‘How to handle fame’. But then, a problem arose. I couldn't help but feel like a fraud because for all my talk about not relying on motivation, I was hopelessly addicted to it. Like a junkie desperate for the next shot, I found myself unable to get any kind of work done without finding a way to sufficiently incentivize myself. I had fallen into the very trap I kept on warning others about and I just couldn't get myself out. Much like that obnoxious vegan secretly gorging on tandoori chicken behind closed doors, not only was I scamming the public but al...

  ‘One of the biggest tragedies of human existence is that we have the potential to decipher the greatest  mysteries of the universe, but would much rather kill one another for shiny yellow rocks’        - Chirag Roy     For a long time, I was extremely curious about the decision making process of the human mind. I never really got the whole ‘follow your heart ’ line of thinking. The hearts just a muscle pumping blood, why blame it for all the stupid crap we pull. The human mind is an extremely shrewd operator; successfully transferring the blame for all of its biggest failures on a muscle to busy keeping us alive to raise a voice in protest. One must resist the temptation to agree with everything the brain tells you, instead take a moment and think a bit more deeply. Or even better, overthink about it for months to the point of insanity. You might get answers, you’ll definitely get content for a pretentious blog post. The trick to understanding o...

“S E S for St.Edmund’s.  Leaders in every field !”    The entire assembly of about a thousand boys between the age of 6 to 16 loudly sang the school  anthem. We were taught to be proud of this anthem, for the legacy it resonated with; a legacy we  had now become a part of.  To be an Edmundian was a matter of pride .We were taught that we were  the best- the brightest students, the most accomplished athletes and the suavest personalities.As  young impressionable boys we bought into the hype; that somehow the school our parents had worked  so hard to get us admitted into as unassuming children was a testament to our own talents.We were  convinced that we are a cut above the rest. Few leave school and outgrow this attitude; most never do. The power of the brand is such an incredible force in the modern day. Everything from the clothes on your back to the degree hanging on your wall becomes an indicator of who you are, y...

                                                                             I was gifted my first pair of Crocs by my aunt . I was visiting her in Mumbai en route to a month long student conference spread across parts of Western and Southern India.I hated those ugly shoes then but was too kind to do anything but smile and thank my wonderful aunt for introducing me to the ‘hip new fashion trend’. And this was during the month of July with the sweltering Indian summer was in full swing. I didn't realize it then but in typical coming of age fashion; I was to embark on a summer of growth, adventure and first love. Not with a pretty lady but something much better, my wonderful pair of Crocs!                 ...

A Squash 1 vine is growing outside my bedroom window. Over the past week as I observe the vine grow,mentally marking the pace at which its height increases day by day I am reminded of O.Henry’s short story ‘The Last Leaf’ and the beautiful message it conveyed. The feeling of hopelessness that can sometimes latch on to our minds  and the the Ivy leaf that the universe sends our way to get us through the mental muddle of our own creation- ‘C’ste la vie’   The slow march of progress outside my bedroom window This lockdown has certainly been difficult and the bouts of boredom, anxiety and full blown existential crisis I have experienced over the past few months have exposed glaring flaws in my own world view.Six months in I'm not sure what will peak first, the virus curve or my mental resilience.But just like little miss Johnsy who was all but ready to slip into the arms of pneumonia that last leaf has held on. For me that leaf came in the shape of close friends and family,random...