#mga writes

It was 10 at night, Rajeswari texted her son Shyam. “Hi, Shyam. I will be at the bus stop in 10 mins. Make sure you were there to pick me up.” “Yeah, mom, I’m starting right away”. “Okay”. Rajeswari, in her 40s, is working as a physics teacher in an international school. Although the pandemic has cancelled their school Independence Day celebrations, that didn’t stop the school management team from making teachers work extra hours in sorting out students’ records, which made her late. Rajeswari is lost in what to prepare for dinner while the bus is cruising at speed through empty streets and letting the excellent breeze play with her hair strands. The empty streets aren’t a sight you get to see in the city traffic. So Ramu Anna, the bus driver, must be enjoying the roads, she thought. Her phone chimed. It’s her daughter Shreya. “I am ordering Biryani for the three of us. Mom, don’t overthink about what to prepare for dinner, and dad is on OT at the office”. She smiled and replied, “okay...

I always took cooking for granted, at least now, hopefully, I learnt the time and effort that goes into making a dish. As a bachelor most of the time I relied on the curry points and food delivery apps but as the lockdowns were in place what started as survival instinct turned to be a healthy ritual for me to cook. In the beginning, it took hours in the making process and to get the things right but now I have reached the point where it just hardly takes half an hour to make a dish and automate things, so yeah, "it's cool to cook". Anyone close to me knew that Sambar was my staple food, but as I started cooking, I began experimenting with different vegetables and ate all kinds of food. Also, on a side note: I keep the kitchen neat. If my mom sees this post, she will get angry because I proved her phrase wrong, " ఇప్పుడు ఎందుకు కాకర కాయ బీరకాయ తింటావు, రేపు పొద్దున్నే నీ పెళ్ళాం వచ్చిన తర్వాత నోరు వెళ్ళబెట్టి తింటావు". Also, do watch this amazing movie on prime ...

When we talk about climate change it boils down to either denial or despair. One might find comfort in denial, sleepwalking to greater disaster. While the other might feel despair, frustration, anger and leading to shut down for the action. The story of denial sounds something like, "It's not up to me, because someone else will fix it." The story of despair sounds like, "It's not up to me because it's too big to fix." Do you hear the similarity? Despair and denial might appear to exist on polar ends of the generational spectrum, yet they stem from the same place. How powerless we feel. [excerpt from Clover Hogan, TED talk] When I read 'The Future We Choose' a book by Christiana Figueres and Tom Rivett-Carnac it gave me more insights and the gravity of the situation we are in right now. "Once we hit critical thresholds, the damage to the environment, and consequently to our future on this planet, will be irreparable." Our approach in de...