Paint the Town “Read” Chapter 5: Eco-Friendly Reading – E-Books vs. Traditional Print “Books are no more threatened by Kindle than stairs by elevators” ~ Stephen Fry Ah, the age-old debate, as vicious as the one on pineapple and pizza:…
What do you do when your house is filled with garbage, too many residents and not enough food for all? You obviously shift to another house, but it gets complicated when your house is the only known planet that can…
There’s a weekly market down the road where I spend my Sundays. I like to sit and watch the strangers pass me by, to revel in the realization that each one of them is living a life as vivid and…
Expression in Indian classical dance is one of its foremost characteristics, and one of the most prominent themes depicted by the classical forms is that of nature. The forms of Kathak, Odissi, Bharatanatyam, Kathakali, Kuchipudi, Manipuri, Mohiniyattam, and Satriya all…
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released the first instalment of the Sixth Assessment Report (AR6) on August 9th, 2021. The report findings conclude that the entirety of the climate change experienced since the late-1800s has been caused by human…
Imagine Vici (*insert Italian hand gestures*). Vici is an aphid, a small insect in the same order as cicadas, stink bugs and bed bugs. Aphids’ prey are plants. Specifically, the plant sap, a very valuable resource. Sap is mostly…
“Even sand is delicious when you starve for months….” Fragile, febrile bodies Breathing in, the sweltering heat Baked in the sun, covered with mud Swollen bellies, clay filled stomachs. The sun Begs for thirst, and the moon Starves for food…
From Chaos, you were born, and from the void within you gave life. You gave birth to the Sky, the Sea and the Mountains, but he trapped your children inside you. He bound you to your fertility, he pained you…
Dear Nature, You have borne so much for us. Floods. Earthquakes. Bodies. Your fragility is such that a butterfly’s wings could engender upon you a thunderstorm, and yet you stand here with us — supporting this great civilisation. Dams…
Climate change can be viewed in terms of the typical school essays highlighting the environmental concerns that every student has been obligated to write at some point, or perhaps to tedious climate treaties with over-ambitious goals signed between nations for…
What’s the first thing that comes to your mind when someone says the word ‘epic’? Is it a legend, your history textbook definition, or maybe how grand something is? The word epic has many meanings, but the movie Epic, an…
Trigger Warning/Content Warning: Mention of death/loss, and content entailing the current pandemic and general despair. Proceeding with due discretion is advised. For the most part, I am numb. Used to hearing the worser parts of it all. Expecting bad news…
You are never more alive than when you are a teenager. Your brain is flushed with chemicals that can turn your life into a story of epic proportions. A good grade feels like a Pulitzer’s Prize. A lonely Saturday night…
Content Warning: The content in the following piece entails the current pandemic and general despair. Proceeding with due discretion is advised. In an Italian premium restaurant, the head chef came out for a round. As people bowed and smiled looking…
Masterchef Australia, the Australian adaptation of the original British Masterchef, completed 12 seasons in 2020 and has recently teased its new season on Instagram. It is an opportunity for amateur home cooks to participate and potentially win prize money, a…
The wind smells of earth. It has started raining; the only time I resent rain. We are supposed to collect his ashes, but fire and water usually don’t match, so we wait inside. His room is immaculate as always and…
Dear Maggi, You probably already know this, but I need you. You bring my family together. You make sleepovers even more exciting. You are the ultimate midnight snack. You are the two-minute comfort every person needs. When they announced that…
Sometime, in the late eighteenth or early nineteenth century, William Cobbett, a journalist, wrote “Without bread all is misery.” Today, more than half a century later, I would like to honour his legacy by telling the world about the wonder…
“I think she has a milk allergy. You should stop eating all dairy products for 3 months”. When I was seven years old, I was diagnosed with a milk allergy. At the moment, it didn’t seem like a big issue.…
Paint the Town “Read” Chapter 4: Food Symbolism in Literature – The Flavour in Storytelling – Food is often associated with memories, feelings and emotions. Sugar and spices tickle our tastebuds not just with flavours but also with nostalgia and…
During my stay at my grandparents’ place, my seven-year-old self would climb up onto the kitchen slab in the evening, while my grandmother prepared snacks for me— some plain old Tiger biscuits sandwiched together with cream and a simple toast…
Food is the substantial basis of life: shocker. If given a rather Gen-Z twist to this mainstream definition, food can be defined as the sole reason why certain people attend parties and/or weddings. I was brought up vegetarian, something I’ll…
What makes your world go round? The bourgeois would point to money. Hopeless romantics would claim it to be love. I, an avid bibliophile in her teens, would plead my case in favour of fiction novels. But alas, I doubt…
Finally! Her letter is here. I was waiting for it for the past 3 days. Before the pandemic, Reshma had visited all these popular countries, kind of like a world tour, to gather information about different cultures, ethnicities, and most…
“Watching the sun making way for the dark clouds, you anticipate the arrival of rain. Grooving to the beat of your new favourite song blasting in the kitchen, you reach for the cupboard and take out the packet of Maggi…
Rant 1: Things like biryani, keema, kabab are supposed to be non-vegetarian, it’s in their description. This is the same case with many other cuisines, for example, vegetarian lasagne. A lasagne is made from thin sheets of pasta, cheese and…
Words. Lately, the only thing that is running through our minds, But the only thing we are running out of these days. Thoughts, The one thing that has been going through our heads all day, Despite the emptiness of…
There are two varieties of art crime: art theft, and art forgery. You could ask: Why should anyone care about art crime? Well, believe it or not, stolen art is often used as currency by terrorist organizations. Experts estimate that…
“It’s a time of firsts,” something that we hear almost every day now or find us saying to ourselves each day. Most mornings have now become peaceful yet the world is in chaos, the air is unsullied yet we have to…
July 10th Dear Diary, The landowners came in today. As I stood in one corner of the café, I could feel a thousand emotions flowing through my body at once— nostalgia, anguish, delight, uncertainty and friendship (well, lost friendship). My worst…
Paint the Town “Read” Chapter 3: Historical Fiction — The Legacies We Leave Behind – “We write to taste life twice, in the moment and in retrospect.” – Anais Nin History is much, much more than the facts…
I can never get over how an insignificant choice in my past changed the course of someone’s life. I climbed up the stairwell on the bus, its steps steeper than my pencil skirt could permit. As soon as I…
The quote, “After the event, even a fool is wise” by Homer, is very appropriate and relevant, especially in these tumultuous times where everything is chaotic and in a mess. Man has always been selfish and to fulfil his desires,…
31st December, 2019: Hazy lights. People jostling. Loud music. Iconic venue. Famous Orchestra. “5… 4… 3… 2… 1… Happy New Year!” There was a newfound hope in the air, the smell of roses, and well, overwhelming deodorants. I was wearing…
Disclaimer: The theories presented in this write-up are through the eyes of the writer and do not represent the views of the magazine. The purpose of this article is to only analyse the event. “The possibility of a murder…
Sugar melts like it’s meant to be with water, One of those love stories, The ones which fill your bleeding heart with laughter. I was so young when I dedicated my life to uncanny words, Naïve fiction came to…
A step and then another, I gathered myself and pulled up further, To mountains that lay ahead, And nothing more that needs to be said. But days until the day, When the eyes finally met the array, Before I…
20th December, Sunday, 2:30pm Lo and behold! This piece of metal and wires has suddenly stopped working. It has given up on life, and that too out of nowhere. Never have I ever exhausted it (okay, maybe while watching a…
“I argue that we choose to be good because of our bonds with other people and our innate desire to treat them with dignity. Simply put, we are not in this alone.” — Chidi Anagonye, 2×03, Somewhere Else In 2016,…
BULBBUL– A petrifying visual spectacle/A breathtakingly sinister revenge In 2020, we witnessed a dark, gripping and thought-provoking fantasy tale in the form of Netflix’s Bulbbul. Earlier this year, I came across a video by the YouTube channel “Long Live Cinema”,…
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