Ritika Ruminates

Image Source- Times Now Last week, on Republic Day, a Deepfake video of the idol of Lord Ram went viral, drawing a significant crowd to the recently inaugrated temple. The video showcased the idol animated with a smiling expression and moving eyes and face. Previously, Deepfakes of actress Rashmika Mandanna and dancer Nora Fatehi have also surfaced on the internet. This new technology can be really horrifying, distorting the reality. Deepfakes can be a new way of defaming an individual. It may also turn worse than explicitly morphing a (woman's) photo to violate someone's modesty or blackmail them.  So how does Deepfakes work? Deepfakes employ deep learning, specifically deep neural networks, to manipulate images or videos convincingly. By training on extensive datasets of the target person, these models learn facial features, expressions, and gestures. Utilizing generative models, like Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs), the deepfake system then synthesizes content that mi...

Image Source - Medium Recently, Sandeep Reddy Vanga, director of the 'Animal,' gave a statement that if one can't slap, kiss or use cuss words towards their partner whenever one wants to, it is not love, that is he "doesn't see emotions there." It is uncertain whether it was his personal beliefs or he said it for negative publicity, but going by his past movies, I'd say he really means it. This brings us to the question - is love supposed to be unconditional? Does there not exist boundaries in love, especially for people with a mindset similar to this director? I don't believe that love can be unconditional, surely not between friends or a couple. Some say a mother's love for her child is unconditional, maybe. But don't these mothers (let us include fathers too) expect respectful behaviour from their kids once they are old enough to understand mannerisms? Respect is the foundation of love of any kind. If you don't respect them, you can'...

Image Source - dr. tc north Recently, N. R. Narayana Murthy requested/suggested that youngsters should work for 70hrs a week. Undoubtedly, this las led to debate among the citizens who favours the statement and also contending against it. Hustle culture is already on rise and this adds fuel to the fire, glorifying burn-out. Viewing this statement in respect to working professionally for a company, especially a job, has a lot of side effects. New lifestyle in urban areas and top-tier cities has already disposed younger population to various health concerns, and working for so long would only accelerate the possibilities of it. No doubt why people in their 30s and 40s are suffering cardiac arrest and pass away at such a young age. Diabetes, PCOS, stroke and other cardiac problems are on the rise too. Burn out is a badge of honour and taking rest is looked down upon in workaholic culture. This leads to extreme exhaustion and fatigue. Many won't be left to replenish themselves with hea...

Disclaimer- This post is a product of random thoughts and my opinion and not backed by any research. The books and movies/series are mentioned only for examples and I have no intention of condemning them. Image Source - IMDb With the humongous collection of books and movies & series, it's evident that similar narratives will be observed and followed in many books, especially contemporary works. While some may be looked down upon, many other tropes are even admired and recommended.  Tropes here refers to elements in a story or relationship dyamics which is similar in many works of fiction across different authors and screenwriters. Example of tropes include grumpy × sunshine , fake dating,   enemies to lovers,   friends to lovers , marriage of convenience , ex-lovers runiting after long time etc. As a reader & viwer of mostly comedy and romantic genre, I can only mention similar narratives found in these genres. Here are examples of other tropes from various genr...

Image Source- The Guardian Happy Teacher's Day! Teachers can contribute a lot to our academic, sports, and personal growth. A teacher can make or break someone's interest in a subject or field. We all have had our share of good and bad teachers. Teachers who teach a subject with so much passion, build your interest in the subject (or at least help you survive the subject like Maths), guide you where needed, motivate you when you doubt yourself, build your confidence, etc. Their teaching and general behavior is so good that you attend lecture out of interest, and not merely for 75% attendance. In contrast, I've also had teachers because of whom my interest in the subject dipped and now I am quite miserable at it (my Hindi getting worse is what hurts me the most). It was so much so that if I happened to see them in public, I would run away before they could see me😂 My interest in English started during 10th board exams when my English teacher in tuitions would give positive ...

 And India celebrates its 77th Independence Day today! Happy Independence Day. 77 years since our nation got independence from the Britishers. But are we really independent?  We are still mentally holding on to the manacles of the ideology invaders (Mughals and colonisers) imposed on us. We are still worried about our safety, are forced into the closet forever due to safety, and many are forced to live a life they didn't want because of society and its rules, etc.  Ancient India was way ahead of its time (maybe medieval too). Learning about ancient/medieval India and its practices via snippets from various authentic sources on different grounds gave us an idea of what independence actually was. Be it for women or people from LGBTQIA+ community. For example, before invaders and colonisers entered India, every region had different saree draping styles and in many of these draping styles, blouses or petticoats weren't a thing. It is only the British idea of appropriate cloth...

Image source- WildCat Tribune If you do not live under the rock and are active on Instagram, you would surely have come across many memes on Colleen Hoover (popularly known as CoHo), Chetan Bhagat, and the like. As funny as they are, and a good addition to the reviews, they can sometimes be quite judgemental and dismissive. After having seen memes on CoHo and her over-hyped books, I surely do not intend to read her books ever and waste my time. But in my early years as a reader, even I have come across and read books which aren't up to the standards and ended up disliking them or finding them just okay-ish. Those books which are considered average by the readers at large, I happened to even like a few of them.  Gatekeeping in literature can be in the form of not allowing one to be a part of book communities and book clubs, harshly judging and criticizing one's reading taste which can even demotivate one to read, etc. With time, having read sublime creations in literature, eithe...

A few days ago, an impromptu plan landed me and my friends on the Marine Drive (planned plans never work) and we were in for a major disappointment. What our eyes witnessed was water being turned into a dark shade of brown with a long line of what seemed like plastic and other garbage. Surely not the blue water and aesthetic look we were expecting.  It would always be pleasant when the water from the waves splashes on your face,  but not anymore. We were experiencing worry instead of calmness when we looks at the sea. Having come from far, we sat at the drive anyways, despite the horrifying colour of the water. Our only solace was the pleasant breeze hitting our faces. I didn't intend to write a blog post on this, so I didn't click a photo as proof. But sharing a photo I could get from Google which is as close as to what we witnessed. Image source- iStock Lost in our own thoughts, we were worried about the future of the Marine Drive if this continues. Mumbai would lose one of ...

Image source - India Map With the Wrestling Federation of India's (WFI) President BJP MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh being accused of sexual harassment and how protesting wrestlers were treated, it raises the question of how politicians being the Presidents and higher authority can lead to sporting disasters in our country. Not only was it heartbreaking, but it was an international humiliation of how our wrestlers were treated. The same goes for many other sports governing bodies. Either players and staff are not treated properly or there is corruption and no growth in the sport at any level. Though Presidents and higher administrative of a few other governing bodies like the All India Football Federation (AIFF), BCCI, and Hockey India are former national level players, WFI's President had no sporting history.  With pure political background, with as many as 38 criminal cases filed against him, it's questioning why he was even put in the head administrative position? Though p...

Devi and Nalini from Never Have I Ever Image source- Vulture To start with, Happy Mother's Day! My mom asked me to write a blog on mother or father for as long as I remember. So here it goes. Mother-daughters share a peculiar love-hate relationship. This is especially true once girls touch their late teenage years when opinions are quite contrasting. Nowadays, this can be even earlier with youngsters getting access to media with all the different opinions and perspectives to choose from. If there is no acceptance of one from either side, accepting of the opinions or person they are, which happens more often than not, it leads to fights. Repeated cycles of being close and happy and arguing and not speaking to each other. Me and my mom are like North and south poles on a lot of topics like marriage, kids, weddings, religion, etc. While I'm the one who supports low-key weddings, my mom would like to invite the whole and nearby districts if I ever get married and spend truckloads o...