Summer Blog Post #2

http://www.bbc.com/capital/story/20150818-keep-calm-and-conquer-the-mountain-of-stress

School is 10 days away and of course this is the period when the magazines, newspapers, social media etc start posting thoughts/articles on how to release stress. When I first started reading articles on releasing stress, it was worthwhile because I acquired new information from it however; these days I feel like the articles are just repetition of each other. Also, I hear people (mainly adults) around me talking about how I shouldn't take stress in my senior year but I know as soon as school opens, people (mainly adults) will start 'enlightening' us on how we can't afford to slack off this year and how we need to be on top of our game but then at the end they always add a phrase akin to: 'but of course you can have some fun."

I understand why adults constantly remind us about school work, college applications etc- they want what's best for us/they think that's the right thing to do but I don't think they understand that constantly reminding us (like daily basis) on the list of things we need to do during our senior year has no affect on the people who don't care about personal responsibility and rather, it ends up frustrating the students who have already taken upon their responsibility.

In essence, I believe that constant reminder does more harm than good and a gentle reminder every now and then is more needed and much more appreciated (by me at least). 

Thoughts on the Book '3 Mistakes of My Life'

The 3 Mistakes of My Life is a book written by Chetan Bhagat. This book is set in Gujarat ( a state in India) and it's focused on the lives of three young boys who are in their 20s. The story really captures the essence of the emerging urban population in the early 2000s. Each boy in the story is very distinct from the other; Govind is an aspiring businessman and he opens up a cricket store, Omi belongs to a very religious family and his father is the priest of a temple, and Ishan who is obsessed with cricket.

Govind falls in love with Ishan's younger sister, Ishan is not interested in his education and he ends up coaching a young boy in cricket who is slightly autistic, and Omi isn't happy about Ishan coaching the young boy because he is of a different religion. All of this takes place during the time period of the Muslim- Hindu riots in Gujarat and the Gujarat earthquake. After the point, things start to fall apart.

I think this book digs deep into the subtle and blatant social segregation. Additionally, it shows how being trapped in a physically violent situation really influences ones thoughts and beliefs on a certain group of people because of personal experience. This then leads to generalizing a group of people which is quite harmful to a community with many different cultures and it constricts a society from living in harmony. Furthermore, the book depicts how politicians really take disputes to their advantage as they see it as an opportunity for 'vote bank.' In fact, the politicians want the disputes to stay unresolved or else they will lose their vote banks for elections and people will actually vote for who they want to rather than the politician who supports their religion or belief. This sends out the message that disputes will never get resolved because for that to happen, leaders of states, groups and nations need to want for tensions to be resolved. Many may think that this is a very negative outlook but it is what it is.

This book will definitely fall under realistic fiction as the events (riots and earthquakes) really did happen and the stories of the three young boys could have very well happened to anyone in that situation.

This was the first book I read which had Hinglish ( Hindi + English) terms so it definitely gave off a different effect to the other English books I read. The language was relatable because at home, I try to speak in Hindi but I tend to mix it with English most of the times because my Hindi vocabulary isn't broad as I've never lived in India during my schooling period. On the other hand, there were many terms I didn't understand and only the people who live/reside in urban areas of India.

Overall, this book was an enjoyable read and I would recommend it to people who understand the Hinglish.