Animals in Human Voices #8

Thanks, human!

I like your intention (or maybe a sweet little blunder) of planting this sapling in a corner of the pot, leaving enough soil space in the center. Now, that makes for a perfect chill bed for this comfy connoisseur to stretch, curl, and take a nap after lunch.

But, don’t blame me if at all the plant self-destructs itself, wanting to give me all its space out of love. I’m just treating ours as a mutualistic relationship, while fertilizing my plant partner.  Continue reading

Animals in Human Voices #7

You name members of our kind ‘Flash’ and do not hesitate to make fun of our natural speeds.

In this regard, I question you, why don’t you mind your own business at your natural speeds?

Even if you are accelerating, why can’t you be in control? Have you lost your nerve?

I can hear you. I am not as frustrated as this always. But, you humans make me yell. Do you want to know the reason?

Continue reading

Patterns

shelter of patterns
offer hindsight or foresight
clear blatant vision

Aren’t patterns astonishing? We take shelter in them while also wanting to break them. Quite ironical, is it not?

The varied hues of clouds at dusk, stars at night, the rustle of a coconut palm, the ripples on a silent pool, the aggregation of ice crystals that present us the snow fractals, animal and human behaviour are all nothing but patterns. On a bigger scale, the Milky Way Galaxy which we’re a part of has spiral patterns depicting a Fibonacci sequence in space. Isn’t that stunning? These regularities that reveal themselves in our observations often offer a sense of satisfaction to confused minds, and act like a shelter to hazed thoughts.

Not only in nature are these configurations present. We plan our days, maintain a consistent routine to manage the time and weave a pattern around us consciously or otherwise. We accidentally meet a good old friend, and at once our brain frames a pattern of longing to meet them all. Rhyme schemes are also patterns used by poets to please their readers. Even chaos we face in our lives is an unrecognized pattern which barely gets recognized. That’s what has transformed into the cliché of ‘history repeats itself’.

But, as much as patterns fascinate me, I feel that they’re also a trap. 

Continue reading

New-Age Oases

The more unliveable our urban centres become, we as tourists retreat into the new-age oases – the sustainable hotels – which are just illusions of naturalness. Even when they have committed to reducing wastes and carbon footprints, how long will we be able to live in this fantasy without having to deal with the repercussions?

Isn’t the hope we’re dreaming of, also a dream?

Credits & Footnote

In response to Sadje’s ‘What Do You See Prompt #93’ & Sonya’s ‘Three Line Tales #287’. 

#WDYS Logo

Featured Image:
Photo by Milan Vasek (www.milanvasek.com).

Image

Utmost Feelings – Anthology

I’m ecstatically happy to share with you the news that an anthology that I’m a part of, “Utmost Feelings” with the theme ‘Love’, has been released.

It’s been exactly a month today since the launch (29th June 2021). But, I wanted to share this news only after I received a paperback copy. The delivery was a mess, unfortunately, and I got my copy only a couple of days ago and hence the delay in the announcement.

Attached with bittersweet memories, this book will always remain special. Astha, the girl who initiated the process of compiling this book is no more with us. Today marks the end of three months since her demise. But still, the legacy of her dream lingers in each word that the book holds. I heartily appreciate the efforts of True Dreamster, the publisher, who took Astha’s wish forward and presented this bouquet of love to her family as a tribute.

I extend my heartfelt gratitude to every person who’s a part of this wonderful project and all supporters.

Purchase Links:

Paperback:

Amazon IN | Shopclues | Amazon US | Amazon CA | Amazon AE | Amazon UK | Amazon DE | Amazon FR | Amazon ES | Amazon IT | Amazon JP

E-book:

Amazon Kindle | Kobo Books | Google Books | Google Play Store | Barnes & Noble | Payhip

Credits

Image designed by True Dreamster .


International Tiger Day 2021

As many of you might have come across already, today, 29th July is observed as the “International Tiger Day”. This is commemorated every year since 2010 to spread awareness about the dangers faced by tigers, to conserve the tiger species, and to preserve their natural habitats.

This year, the theme for the day is Their survival is in our hands.

According to World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), these wild cats are one of those keystone species that are crucial for the integrity of the ecosystems in which they live. In short, when tigers thrive, the whole ecosystem thrives. They help in maintaining the harmony of nature.

In spite of being apex predators, do tigers really face dangers? Undeniably, that’s a yes. Most declining tiger populations are threatened primarily by habitat loss and fragmentation, poaching and wildlife trade, declining prey base, and conflicts with humans.

Continue reading

Lone Wolf

When Rune found a friend in me, it was his postures – hunched shoulders, ever lowered head, tucked-in tail, timid and fearful eyes – that portrayed him as an omega wolf yearning for a non-hurting companion.

The scars of terrible abuse could be felt when I patted his back while he sat silently by my side, but that didn’t mean he was loved less by the pack as I’ve witnessed the aggressive ones giving their dear omega a chance to win games at times.

Oddly, today I could feel a deep pain in his eyes that usually held fears and I was assured of my guess when Rune left my side in a direction opposite to that of his usual return, indicating that he has made his mind firm of becoming a lone wolf leaving his natal pack to nourish himself with adequate food and, find or form a new pack for himself beyond his birth territory.


Wolf Pack Mentality:

I loved this wolf in the photo so much that it inspired me to read about the characteristics of wolf packs. Continue reading

Blogging Tips #1

In this post, I’m to share my insights on how to add a tag that states ‘Expand To Read’. A few bloggers had asked me for it, and this is a post detailing the need and procedure for the same.

Details tag:

The details tag is more like an interactive disclosure widget. Any content that the user can open and close on demand can be added to this. When open, it expands and displays the content.

When to use the ‘details’ element?

Details tag in HTML can be used to display

  • answers for Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs).
  • repeated stuff, providing the reader a choice to read.
  • spoilers in book or movie reviews.
  • answers for puzzles.
  • disclosures, or
  • any trivial content.
Continue reading

Floaters

We’ve all had that childhood sisters/brothers who used to terrify us by saying dreadful stories or something that doesn’t even exist. I must have been in my 1st or 2nd grade when I was introduced to the concept of ‘glassics’. Let me tell you what glassics are.

On a sunny day, when you stand out for a long time, you get to see that arrow/worm-like thing floating in the air, in your field of vision. You might even have experienced it while glancing at similar uniformly bright objects, say, a blank computer screen or even snow.

My then neighbour and senior at school used to spin stories around that, telling me that these are worms flying around in air causing infection to people. The highlight is that I believed all these for a few years until I knew that particles or organisms in the air cannot be seen with naked eyes. Continue reading

Anniversary – Random Thought

Today is India’s 74th independence day. It was the headline of the newspapers and a thought crossed my mind on reading it. It’s the 73rd independence anniversary.

Likewise, when we congratulate someone annually for a celebration, we usually address it an anniversary – job achievements, house purchases, wedding anniversaries, or any ‘firsts’ that we’d like to remember. Continue reading

LINK – Solution to Puzzle – SoCS

Thank you all for your patience! Those who don’t get a hold, kindly read the previous post for better understanding.

Loge – Iapetus – Narvi – Kari

These are the satellites of the planet Saturn. Had you noticed the word ‘satellite’ that was present in the previous post, the ‘connecting link‘ would have been a cakewalk. The hint wasn’t planned to be placed, but a mere coincidence. The word ‘satellite’ didn’t lead me to my line of thoughts. It was just a traceback.

Why did I choose Saturn?

I tried to frame a meaningful acrostic for LINK but couldn’t come up with any (without much planning; that’s a condition for the SoCS prompt). I started the previous post with technical jargon, which included uplinks and downlinks. That gave me the thought of space, and I got inspiration from a recent news article of planets visible to the naked eye. Continue reading

World Emoji Day 2020

July 17 is celebrated as World Emoji Day, an unofficial holiday.

Emojis, symbols of the visual language, have become a part of our everyday life. They were designed with the intention of adding emotions to the digital language. Peeking out from smartphone screens, they are now on clothing, shoes, arts, cakes, gift items, plush toys, and in many more forms.

Who created Emojis?

Emojis were first created by Japanese artist Shigetaka Kurita.  He worked with Japan’s main mobile carrier DOCOMO, on the development team for “i-mode,” an early mobile internet platform with the goal of finding new ways to express information. Emojis weren’t 3D in the initial days as we see them now. Kurita sketched emojis as a set of images that can be sent on mobiles and pages as individual characters within the i-mode interface, which implies that they were not international. Continue reading

Relive – TLT #4

It’s a theme park run only for adults, by a lady with supernatural powers, and the caution board indicating “Mind Your Head” doesn’t mean anything physical but is more surreal.

Only brave ones come here because the person entering the door forgets all memories of the outside world that’s dumped in their heads and gets inside only with memories of a 5-year-old.

Annie was over the moon as she posed Continue reading

Burning Desires – TLT #3

Varun loves summers, and so had planned to tick off an item from his bucket list of visiting Egypt on the summer solstice, where a viewer standing at the Sphinx could enjoy the sun setting precisely between two of the Great Pyramids – Khufu and Khafre.

Unfortunately, the lockdown collapsed his plans, the result of which he had to settle with a friend who was to trek to a hilltop tower in a nearby town.

He started his climb with sorrows brimming, but the mountain’s breeze soothed his wounds, Continue reading

Harry Potter and The Cursed Child

Warning:

  • Save some tears before getting into Hogwarts now. You’ll most probably cry at the end for ruining your childhood or teen memories.
  • Spoilers Ahead! (They may not be in order, though.)

Forget the playful Harry you have in mind. Now, try imagining him as an overworked employee of the Ministry of Magic and the father of three school-going children. Initially, even doing this seemed quite difficult for me but was also slightly convincing that muggles aren’t the only species who are overworked. All our wizards from the original Harry Potter (HP) series are very well placed in their professional sphere.

The book starts with the elucidation of the stranded father-son relationship between Potter and his second son, Albus. Continue reading