Ritika Ruminates

In my M.A. English class, we were reading and discussing Walter Benjamin's The Storyteller. The essay goes on to illustrate what storytelling is, who a storyteller is, the fall of oral storytelling, and so on. Our professor asked us which book we read some time ago that we remember and how it impacted us. This idea has been going on in my mind for several months too. I thought to post a blog post on this then but backed off the idea. These can be used as book recommendations if you haven't read them already. But after this essay and the push, here we go. Every good book we read adds to or contradicts our opinions. It adds layers to our existing opinions, makes us question our opinions or we try to come to a middle ground. There is an impact of literature on our personal growth. In this blog post, I will be focusing on fiction books with life lessons that hugely impacted my life and shaped my opinions. So without wasting our time, let’s dive in.  Books That Largely Influe...

After the blog post sitting in my drafts for 2 days now (too numb and triggered to complete it), here is what I think of the Kolkata rape case. er the blog post sitting in my drafts for 2 days now (too numb and triggered to complete it), here is what I think of the Kolkata rape case. The latest rape and murder case at R G Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata breaks our hearts yet again. Accused "men" (we really don't believe there is just one person involved, other than probable gang rape) brutally raped and murdered a postgraduate trainee doctor during the night shift. I don't think I need to go more into  information,  as it is everywhere now.  Just like Nirbhaya, Priyanka Reddy, and the Hathras case, this Kolkata doctor murder and rape case sends a shiver down our spine and cuts into our hearts. Our hearts bled for our now-dead sister, who underwent a brutal crime and was murdered while on duty to save others. This not only scares the doctor (and nurses) com...

Image Source- The Business Standard A few days ago, post the boxing game in Paris Olympics 2024, Imane Khelif was on the receiving side of ugly misogyny and transphobia over her masculine looks and testosterone levels in her body. After her opponent, Angela Carini abandoned the bout 46 secs into the fight, claiming she never has been hit so hard before by a female boxer. This led netizens across the globe to be divided in opinions, where the one half mercilessly trolled her and baselessly accused her of being a man. Imane Khelif has been raised as a woman in a country which is not supportive of LGBTQ+ community (unfortunately). Algeria do not allow sex change surgery, so no ways she is a man and would have been sent by Algeria in the Olympics.  Now-banned International Boxing Association (IBA) cited she has high testosterone level and that she has XY chromosomes (science went into the dustbin), in non-specified and non-transparent eligibility tests. There has been a rift between IO...

Indian English poets who are worth reading.  Indian poetry is like a giant buffet—there’s something for everyone, from ancient delicacies to contemporary treats. India as a country has long contributed the genre of poetry, from vedic texts to modern musings. Some of the Indian poets in the last century (or more) have composed great poems in the English language. Whenever I hear someone say that India hasn't produced monumental literature (poems in the context of this blog post), it disheartens me to see an Indian underestimating their own literature and being ignorant of the perennial poems written by people of their country. English is as much an Indian language as it is of the UK and US. Indian stalwarts have widened the canon of English poetry or have made a canon of their own which can compete with British poems in the context of content and language.  During my under-graduation course and currently in my Masters, I have come across such beautiful poems composed by Indians...

A month since I returned from my Andaman trip and here's the travel blogpost after a lot of doubt about publishing it, coupled with class 1 procrastination. My family planned a 6 day trip to Andaman in late April (we wanted Himachal but resorts were all booked up) to escape Mumbai heat, only to find even more heat there. Our trip was a series of (mis)adventures in the archipelago, enough to become a comic movie, like Bhagam Bhag😂. Due to hotel and room (un)availability, we had to make a circuit of Neil Island (having to land first at Port Blair)- Port Blair- Havelock, whereas Port Blair-Havelock-Neil is the most preferable and convenient circuit. For government jetties, one has to make bookings a week earlier, which was informed to us only when we landed in Port Blair and was heading towards the jetty. Luckily, the driver's contacts got us last minute jetty tickets to Neil, when we assured we are even ready to stand all the way (Mumbai local feelings, y'all). But we had to...

Image Source- BookMyShow Recently, Kiran Rao's Laapata Ladies was released on Netflix, and it is worth every appreciation and hype there is for the movie on social media. My Instagram is filled with it, and many reels end up being shared on my Instagram stories (gonna be obsessing over the movie for some time now). It is a movie that rightly depicts feminism. Laapataa Ladies explore and respect the choices of both the lead female characters, along with Manju Mai (dadi). The feminist dialogues are on point. The only problematic statement was from Mai that women don't need men. Maybe not husbands, as marriage should be out of choice, but surely progressive fathers and brothers who are not threatened by women's independence, opinions, and professional work. The movie proved that feminism isn't about drinking, smoking, and cheating alone, as portrayed in a series on Amazon Prime and partly in Lipstick Under My Burkha. Feminism, as a concept/movement, is simple and aims for ...

Image Source- BookMyShow Last week, I watched the movie Maidaan in theatre. No doubt, it was entertaining, with heartbeat fluctutaing every few seconds during match scenes (much like a good game of football). Unfortunately, the movie tanked at box office as of now, despite its good content and overall acting.  Afterwards, while ruminating on it, I realized the right timing when the movie got launched in theatres. Initial part of the movie had the Indian football team struggling badly, and even in midst of the movie, where people did not have any faith in the team to win. This is the exact scenario currently with our Indian football team as well, where we are mostly on a losing streak and suffering badly. This one year is not going really well for our country. The team, coach and AIFF is facing backlash for losing against Afghanistan as well, a country that is under the rule of Taliban and isn't doing well in socio-political realm. Some of the football fans are demanding resignation...

Image Source- Inc. Magazine In recent times, as we all know, the attention span has reduced. Visual media, especially reels, have taken over reading. A few may even not read this blogpost till the end. 😅😂  BookTok and Bookstagram are abundant with book recommendations and reviews. But often, these books reels are flooded with smut. I know the pain for those who want real content in a book. When my Instagram was filled with these reels, I kept wandering which Insta algorithm I unknowingly tapped into.  A few viewers may get intrigued to read books motivated by the reels but can't bring themselves to read for whatever reasons. In this blogpost, I share names of some easy to read books (mostly from beginner point-of-view) to start your reading journey with, pick up your long lost hobby or even to get over the reading slump. If you are still here, let's go-  Khaled Hosseini's A Thousand Splendid Suns and The Kite Runner- No reading list is complete without these 2 by ...

Image Source- Days for Girls International The suicide of a 14-year-old girl from Mumbai due to stress caused by first periods has made headlines in the news. As per reports, the girl was under stress and misinformation regarding the menstrual cycle. The drastic step has once again brought need of period and mental health education into the spotlight. Though her step was drastic, her fear and stress regarding periods have been shared by all the women and girls who experience period for first time. When I got my period for the first time, like many other girls, I thought that it was the last day of my life. Periods, even now, remains a taboo in the Indian society, especially in villages and lower-tier cities. Many girls get to know what periods are when they experience it for the first time. There is no prior knowledge of periods before the first cycle begins. Girls are instructed to not talk about periods with male members of the family and guy friends as well. This can lead to misinfo...

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...