Ritika Ruminates

Image Source- ArtStation We all want our lives to be immortal. The idea of forever interests us. Though human life itself is not immortal, the memories and legacy we live behind have the potential to be  immortal and remembered by upcoming generations. The elixir of life, as per the dictionary, means a preparation  supposedly able to prolong life indefinitely. Though I would like  to describe the elixir of life in the ways we can live a fulfilled  life, or one’s dream life, and leave a bundle of happy memories  behind for the people to remember us by. Basic life needs, like food, water, shelter and clothing are necessary to sustain life. Though human lives are mortal,  we are bound to die. But our work and how we treat people  have the potential to be immortal.  Staying healthy is important so that your daily life activities are  not affected by any health concerns. To do anything great in  life, you first need to be healthy,...

Image source- HR Katha Being apolitical seems to have become a trend. To not care about politics is seen as cool. Youths, though highly opinionated, kind of refrain from politics. This apolitical nature is even more observed among the youth of Mumbai. Though politics and political affairs affect people directly or indirectly, how can Mumbai youth afford to be more apolitical than youths from other parts of India? Disclaimer- This is based upon my observations, and hearing/being part of conversations between youths in Mumbai. The Mumbai youth referred to in this blog post are educated and mostly from middle-class or affluent families, which would not be drastically affected by politics and not are heavily influenced by others (privileged). This blog post does not target any politician or political party in particular and is referred to in general political scenario of India. These are just my observations and shouldn't be taken as gospel truth😅. In India, a lot of politics works on...

Image source- Small Business Trends Social media is something that has taken everyone under its control. Even if you are not on social media platforms, especially Instagram nowadays, it still leaves some impact on your life in minor indirect ways. With more users over time and its large impact on people, it often becomes larger than life itself. The reel is becoming more real. The impact of social media depends upon how its users use the platform. A small positive initiative can leave behind a positive impact on many people, like a domino game, and negative use can even get people killed, literally or mentally. Sharing information based on correct and complete knowledge, especially by credible people from related fields, can avoid misinformation and misunderstandings. Debunking myths, explaining jargon in layman's language etc. can help a lot of people. Say, for example, gynaecologists/embryologists providing sex education info , finance experts providing financial pieces of advice...

Image source- Olympics India recently hosted FIFA U7 Women's World Cup, which Spain won defeating Columbia and Nigeria being placed third. Unfortunately, Team India lost all 3 scheduled matches in the tournament. Though the players represent all of India, we cannot blame them. In India, cricket is treated like God while other sports and players are often neglected. Most of the money, promotions and sponsorships still go to cricket tournaments and players, be it from government or private firms. People got to know about Neeraj Chopra only after he won a medal for India at the Olympics (including me). Due to no promotions or media interviews before his win at the Olympics, hardly a few people knew.  Coming back to football, what we could have done to improve our games and chances of winning some matches? Or as the past cannot be changed, what changes we can bring for improving the games in future tournaments, for all gender, ages and physically challenged teams at the national and cl...

Image source- Hindustan Times   I recently watched the movie Maja Ma on Amazon Prime Video. A movie about how the lead's (Madhuri Dixit) smoothly going life gets interrupted by her secret getting out in public, affecting her's and her family's life. The caste includes Madhuri Dixit, Gajraj Rao, Ritwik Bhowmik, Barkha Singh, and Sheeba Chaddha among many others. This review contains some spoilers. So you can watch a movie and come back to this blog post 😀. Phobia against homosexuality still very much exists in our society, be it within India or western countries. This is even more in small towns or rural areas of India, where knowledge is not enough and incorrect, and so prejudice and shame around homosexuality is more. The myth and phobia against homosexuality are often based on incorrect and incomplete information we receive about homosexuality (and everything in the LGBTQIA+ community). I have written about it in my other blog post, which you can read here . ...

 This post won't be a blogpost but a open letter that I wrote for fictional characters Ram and Sita Mahalaxmi/Princess Noorjahan from movie 'Sita Ramam'. Image source- The Hindu Dear Ram and Sita Mahalaxmi, You both showed us what love seems like. Yes, I don't believe that love happens without even meeting the person (from Ram's POV), but maybe, there can be a few exceptional cases. Ram falling in love with Sitamahalaxmi due to her letters, tells us how words can have an impact on one's life. Our choice of words can make a person loved (or atleast comfort them and make them feel heard and less lonely) or break someone's heart. Princess Noorjahan, who left her real identity behind and took up the role of Sita Mahalaxmi, thanks for showing that girls are not only behind money. You left comfort that the title of princess provided, to move in with Ram, a soldier who would be earning Rs600 a month. You both defied the stereotypes associated with genders being in ...

Image source - India Today  With what recently took place in Iran- beating a woman named Mahsa Amini to death for "inappropriately wearing the hijab", it yet again brings the grave issue of inability to practice basic freedoms and the morality police into picture. This incident was followed by the President of Iran, Ebrahim Raisi refusing to get interviewed (outside Iran) at the last minute because the journalist/interviewer declined his condition for her wearing a hijab/headscraf, which his aide described as "matter of respect" and as it was the holy month of Muharram and Safar.  This enforces the morality police that people often impose on others, women often being the primary victims. "Dress like this..", "Sit like this..." and "Don't laugh loud.." is xxxjust some of the examples of moral policing women face in daily life. Unlike Mahsa's case, morality police may not take someone's life, but it is often subtle...

Image Source - Vox Cancel culture, a term thats getting quite frequently implemented upon this days.  Be it a new book or authors, blogs, movie/series or part of it, stand-up comedy or anything form of art or expression, cancel culture always comes to show its ugly face to boycott or censor something. Even if the art or content piece is not offensive or spreading any kind of hate in any way, people get offended at slightest of things and ask for boycotts. This makes me wonder- if this continues, will this bring a end to creative careers? No professional in creative careers will want to be threatened of their or their family's safety, abuses, or threats of boycott over something that doesn't even spread hate. In season 3 of Amazon Prime's Comicstaan, during the topical comedy round, Kusha Kapila had asked standup comedian Sapan Verma that can you perform a topical comedy set without getting an FIR (filed against you) to which Sapan Verma awkwardly laughed, indicating a big n...

Image Source- Bookish Santa Very recently, like any other industry, publication industry had taken a hit because of COVID too. But in my opinion, publishing industry took some of the worst hit along with a few others. Not only COVID stopped the production for a meanwhile, but people started moving to other forms of entertainment, leaving behind one of the best forms of entertainment - reading.  It's not just COVID that made publishing industry suffer badly, but shift to endlessly scrolling on social medias and digital forms of entertainment like movies and series also drifted people away from reading. Along with losing the readers, authors and publishers face the grave issue of book piracy or literary theft, along with plagiarism. Buying a pirated book for less cost is just as equal to reading free PDF copy of the book, as the money actually doesn't go to the writer but people who pirate it. Check my earlier blogpost on book piracy here . Books and literary arts offer the best ...

Image source - IG account of girl_respect_  A little ago, Ranveer Singh had shared nude pics on his Instagram, which very soon created a stir on social media. People on social media had 2 polar views- while some supported him, some went out of proportion to even file a case for this. We do not know whether Ranveer posted the nude pics to attract controversy or not, someone who is already a meme material for his unconventional clothing. Keeping the intention of creating controversy or not, this has surfaced already existing double standards when it comes to gender. Though he received support by people, which I didn't really bothered about, it exposes the hypocrisy when a girl or a woman posts half-nude or "too revealing" photos. When a women posts photos or is physically at a place like beach, in bikini or similar clothing, she is subjected to slut-shaming comments, creepy/judgemental looks, unasked advices to get changed into "more appropriate" clothing, to even...