Ritika Ruminates

Image source- Hotcourses Abroad Book piracy is one of the most important issues in the literary world now, along with plagiarism. Royalty from book sales isn't enough to pay the bills, even for the bestseller authors, and book piracy steals away their income even more. I have written about the issue of piracy in 2 of my earlier blog posts. To read those-  Free books apps and book PDFs: Disrespecting author's works How can we help the publishing industry Book borrowing etiquettes  (One additional blog, not related to piracy) By the way, I feel that book PDFs are at least honest about stealing the work, rather than physical pirated copies available in the market for purchase. If it is about piracy (which I do not support), it doesn't make sense to pay for a book to someone who pirates for a little less than the original. Why waste your money on a first or second copy then, if you will consume pirated copies of a book anyway?  Coming back to the point: Like any crime, t...

Image source: Popsugar This blogpost is going to be my interpretation of the character Tyler from Wednesday series, seeing it from his perspective. Even if you are team Xavier, do give it a read anyway (promise to try to not trick you to change your team). Picture of Hunter Doohan (Tyler) for this blogpost can quite be like a candy, attracting many girls (or even boys) to this blog post🤭. As most have already seen the series or have come across spoilers on Instagram anyway, I'm free to post spoilers here too. Or if you do not want spoilers, watch the series Wednesday on Netflix (not freeload it on Telegram!) and come back here soon after finishing the first season (ofcourse I would like the additional view😂😜).  I think Tyler, at some extent, represents all of us. We all have a negative or even monstrous side to our personality which could lay dormant for years or decades. But when something major happens (or compounding of small things until it reaches the boiling p...

Image source- The Fluent Life Being a daily Mumbai local train commuter, I see small kids travelling long distances in the early hours of the morning (5-6am) to go to school. This makes me wonder- Education and academics are very much needed, but at the cost of their childhood? Most of these kids board from central line stations like Kopar, Diva, Mumbra and Kalwa, areas that are not so developed in aspects of finance and infrastructure, and mostly lack quality and affordable schools. Government schools may not be as efficient either, which forces them to travel long distances from their homes to get their basic right fulfilled. Travelling to main Mumbai areas like Ghatkopar, Vidyavihar, Dadar, Masjid and even CSMT for schools, takes a lot of their daily time.  Once I saw a group of small kids, boarding from Diva station, planning to de-board at Majid for their school (their school bag had a logo of a school situated in Masjid). It almost takes around an hour in the local itself. Al...

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...