CHIMI

Celebrities and politicians, who are worshiped more than the lord himself, are known to hold the whip in every possible circumstance they are likely to be involved in. From shopping malls that provide secret rooms for known faces with the latest and most sought-after collections to people who derive deep and perverse satisfaction from a meager opportunity to serve them, the examples are many. While the ordinary man in his unending pursuit to make ends meet, has conveniently chosen to ignore these, the situation gains gravitas when the same is displayed in healthcare. Be it in their battle with mental health or rescuing them from the clutches of the deadliest of diseases, the best teams of doctors have always rushed to their assistance. It is perhaps the thought that the society has bestowed upon them, the responsibility to return their ‘gods’ in full health and well-being, that is the single motivating factor to work with utmost devotion.   But it is simply unfortunate to see not...

 Dangling my toes in a night’s hot spring after my eventful eighteenth, little did I imagine that it was going to be such a happening, life-altering year for me. From all the hullabaloo surrounding board exams to the uncertainty that subsequently prevailed about college, I am sure that this year would not have been a cakewalk for many like me. But what was most remarkable was my battle with anxiety and minor episodes of depression and even as it might sound like an exercise in cliché, what they taught me. Long gone are times when mud was slung upon people who suffered from mental health issues and society subsequently deeming them unfit for social life. With masses being educated about mental illness, the misconceptions regarding them are on a terminal decline among certain sections of the population. But the lack of empathy that the large sections of the society possess still seems to be incorrigible. With movie stars, cricketers and, other celebrities coming out with their respec...

 India was and remains a land where multiplicity of religions, ideologies and faith systems have thrived and flourished from time immemorial. Free speech, fair criticisms and arguments are not new to public discourse of this ancient civilization. Article 19 of the constitution which enshrines the principle of free speech and expression has been invoked several times in the period spanning the decades from independence for the most trivial things to the greatest of milestones our country has witnessed.  The historical and cultural moorings of the country are evidence enough to support this. Freedom of speech and expression as a fundamental right has remained intact and untouched for all the years from independence except during emergency when it was struck down by the then government of India. The number of publications that were banned, people jailed and thereby the intellectual freedom of the vast multitude of people that were curbed remains afresh in the memory of Indians. F...

  Argus-eyed women tracing their speedy steps back home while the world rests in the arms of Morpheus is not a novel site to this country. The regular columns of newspapers replete with heinous crimes and brutal assaults committed to such women have become the new normal the country wakes up to every day. From the Nirbhaya case in Delhi, the brutal murder of Soumya in Kerala and the Disha rape case in Hyderabad, cases of rape, assault, and murder of women in India are manifold. What seemed like sporadic events half a century ago are occurring like an avalanche in recrudescence since the past decade or so. The weeks that would follow such events are usually public talks and articles by intellectual minds pontificating about the issue and political parties indulging in the normal blame game. We seldom seem to look beyond these and fathom the reasons for such intolerable crimes recording an upsurge in our country. We often hear people say that changes need to start from the ground; wo...

  Young folks who do not take extensive interest in the lives of feminine and masculine beauties, their skincare routine, what they eat in a day and their workout regimen might be taken by shock if I were to suggest that paradox rules in the virtual beauty world we currently live in. This argument emanates from my rather late discovery of a family that has had a long-running show to their name and has been claimed to set unbreakable records in the glam world. Well, to hit the nail on the head, what caught my attention was an old, more so unnoticed, and most importantly uncontroversial interview of one family member who made a remarkable statement that she hates people who hate themselves and that people should be taught to love themself the way they are. I mentally appreciated her for the grandiose statement she had just made and proceeded to search the web to know more about the respected lady. The images in the search results took me by surprise. She, who had sent out a message f...

  I seldom knew a friendly conversation with an acquaintance of mine would turn into a heated topic of discussion in our circle when I put forth the idea that the internet has become an indispensable part of our daily life. Agreeing with the same, he recounted with wry amusement, how Google, the most familiar version of the web world has become the agony aunt of the millennial era. Everything from the ideal delicacy to serve your guests, to becoming the ultimate grievance redressal system, Google is rather munificent with solutions to sustain a layman’s day-to-day life. A platform with wide-ranging content and a varied set of audiences with everybody having the freedom to create content to endorse their point of view; the internet has become the confidante and deciding voice in many of our lives. When two decades ago the looming usage of the internet warranted greater simplicity in accessing information for the benefit of the common man, today it stands as a presage of the sy...

The CBSE, the finest bastion of academic edifice in the country has put an uncertain end to the morass surrounding the board examinations of class 10 and 12 amidst the surging coronavirus cases in the country. In what seemed to be an attempt to call a truce with students, the recent announcement by the board only seems to be an overture to a more complex debate. While the announcement came as a partial relief to class 10 students, the uncertainty surrounding class 12 examinations has only made students more anxious about the possible end.  As an 18-year-old myself, who has had a rather mundane existence throughout the past year and a half, the lone driving force to sustain the mammoth task of studying was a farfetched yet certain end to the 15 years of school life. The announcement to postpone the examination until a further announcement on June 1 has made students complacent towards the prospect of studies. Many have begun to extrapolate about the possible course of action by ...

 From the embellished walls of shopping malls to commonplace salons, their infectious presence abounds in every corner of this world.  We admire the charisma they wreathe and are swayed by their pompous displays of wit, affection and intelligence. I cannot but be surprised if you haven’t caught a mental glimpse of your adored celebrity by now. But what the common man yearns to know is the ‘dubious’ secret to their never-ending youth and eternal charm! Everything from the tall and handsome prince falling in love with the lean and fair princess, the silver screen has set immensely tenuous contours of beauty as something confined to the physical self of an individual.  But why does this topic assume importance, especially in the decade where the golden mantra is to ‘live and let live’?  From this standpoint, is this not a violation of the personal space of an individual? Well, let me hit the nail on the head by providing a countervailing argument. The film fraternity mo...

 From rushing for the school bus at 8:00 am in the morning to eagerly anticipating lunch breaks and finally feeling ‘liberated’ with the 3’0 clock bell, an array of school routines is nothing but a distant memory, the millions of students yearn to get back. With over 1.5 million schools closed and hundreds of thousands of students completely left out of online education, the raging pandemic seems to have provided us with more than just an unprecedented vacation. A number of learned research papers and newspaper articles have been published in the last eight months revealing the flaws in our education system. While the prospect of online education can be seen as an unscrupulous and callous attempt of the government as it would do no better than adding to the 6 million students who were already out of school, one has to try and understand the larger problems they represent. While the limitations of providing distant education stand as the prime concern, we should not overlook the req...

  Politics in India can be rightly described as a treacherous pitch, where even the most seasoned batsmen can lose a wicket if they don’t play safe. So are political discussions in classrooms. It is a herculean task to solely focus on the point of debate and not make distasteful or deceitful comments which can potentially hurt religious or political sentiments. As a result, one can rarely see sensitive issues involving political or religious groups, being taken up for open debates or discussions in schools. The general image of student politics being associated with recalcitrance and rebellion, as witnessed in some institutions these days is largely responsible for this attitude. While these reasons are absolutely justified, the question on the flip side is that, should the current generation grow up in oblivion of issues that assume national significance? The obvious question that arises here is whether one has to necessarily engage in tiresome discussions when mass media, which...