Ritika Ruminates

Many people change themselves so that other people like them. They are ready to change themselves, just for the sake of people's attention and validation. Why do they do that?  The reason is the deep-rooted culture of 'normalcy'.  Look this way. Dress this way. Behave this way. Have this 'normal' timeline in your life- education by 20, job by 22, marriage by 25, kids by 27 and then wait for your retirement and death. If someone behaves in another way (not any immoral or illegal), they are ridiculed, laughed at, trolled, made fun of, bullied and whatnot.  Films are also responsible for this. In the movie ' Kuch Kuch Hota Hai', the Anjali (Kajol in real life) undergo a full transformation from a bold tomboy to shy typical women to get male attention and for males (more specifically Rahul) to marry her. Why is heroin made to go under such a transformation? It sets an example for the audience that its normal to ask someone to change or they can change themselves...

When I think that nothing more cruel cases of rapes can happen to girls and women, every day a new rape case comes up, crueller than the yesterday's. What has happened to India?! Why so many rapes and assault cases on a daily basis? You may recover from coronavirus (or non-terminal life-threatening diseases for that matter) but not mental trauma or even death caused by assaults and rapes. I have no hope that this mentality gonna change in years. Girls and women need to learn self-defence, no matter what your age is. Learn basic self-defence which can help you, if not advanced martial arts. Carry pepper spray (you can buy it online, sharing link at the end of the blogpost for Indian customers. If you are non-Indian, you can search it online) with you wherever you go outside. Keep emergency numbers in your phone. I don't wish, but if you ever confront such a situation, hit the person enough to immobilize them so that he cannot follow you for some minutes and run away from th...

Image source- OurEducation India is one of the most depressed countries in the world. And some of the credit goes to the Indian 'education' system (to be honest, it just a system to give out certificates and degrees). There are many ways how Indian 'education' system harms the mental health of students (and students who have completed their studies too). Here are the few ways (there are so many that can't even name every way of harming mental health to students snd former students)- 1 . Why were we never taught about mental health? :- Mental health is as important as physical health. We were taught about physical health issues, first aid but why were we never taught about mental health, its importance, mental health issues and how to cope with them? I think the system during formulating syllabus be like - "chuck it! Why do we need to teach them about mental health when we have to make them robots in future anyways? Robots need not worry about mental healt...

We have been taught from childhood about hard work, and as we grow up, getting good grades, earning money,  earning 'reputation in the society', etc. But why were we never taught about a sense of fulfilment, about satisfaction, mental peace, and even smart work for that matter? That where do we have to invest our hard work into? Hard work is good if it is in a suitable direction for you which gives you mental peace, fulfilment and satisfaction. Cause if the hard work is invested in a direction which does not give you mental peace, fulfilment and satisfaction are wasted. Hard work in a part of smart work. You should know how much hard work to invest in, in what direction, etc. Mental peace, fulfilment, satisfaction and hard work are not only needed in professional life but in personal life as well. We have to put the right amount of hard work and smart work in our careers and our relationships to make them work and give us a sense of satisfaction and fulfilment. The hard work y...