“Why is it that when one man builds a wall, the next man immediately needs to know what’s on the other side?” ― George R.R. Martin
“Why is it that when one man builds a wall, the next man immediately needs to know what’s on the other side?”
― George R.R. Martin, A Game of Thrones
I always read the end of the book before I start the story.
No kidding. I cannot help it. It’s the same with any movie or series. I cannot help but watch the end before I start watching the show. That’s why I never start reading or watching any show before the series is complete, and I know, for sure, how it ends.
That’s why I watched Iron Man’s death…
But you don't listen
“We have, as human beings, a storytelling problem. We’re a bit too quick to come up with explanations for things we don’t really have an explanation for.”
— Malcolm Gladwell, Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking
Every time I opened my favourite YouTube channel, I would see advertisements, one after another, about the writing MasterClass. I guess, Uncle Google always keeps his goggles on — snooping on my wants and needs— only to dangle those in front of my eyes like a piece of red cloth thrown in front of a bull. After painfully watching the writing MasterClass advertisement…
Tips to help you invest in your current friendships and foster new ones.
Graduating from college and entering official adulthood is hard. That’s the thing about adult life — the hardships are unending. One such difficulty is the loss of friendships.
It happens to us all. School friends and college friends slowly drift apart as people move on to settle in different states, countries, and sometimes even different continents. After my school ended, I moved to India for my further studies, while most of my friends shifted to the States or China. When I returned to Saudi Arabia, my new college friends remained in India. If I ever wanted to hang out, it…
Because Urdu is more than a language.
“Listen:
my father speaks Urdu
language of dancing peacocks
rosewater fountains
even its curses are beautiful.”
(Shailja Patel, Migritude)
No image could do justice to the emotion I wanted to convey to you while describing my mother-tongue.
Maybe its the woman in left, that reminded me of all those days I spent in India and spoke Urdu or the three abayah clad women behind seated with their children that reminded me of Urdu. …
Our ancestors were more badass than we assume
As unbelievable this may sound, the humans that inhabited Earth thousands of years ago were not dumb. They did not just eat bananas and swing from one tree to the next. If anything our ancestors were smart and brave. Living in the wilderness sharpened their survival instincts. They knew when to fight and when to let go of the urge and live in peace. Our ancestors and their cousins were sophisticated, intelligent, and hard-working.
1. They owned inbuilt pesticide beds
Ancient humans didn’t have one of those fancy mattresses you own, but they were very clever in putting together a comfortable place to sleep on. Archaeologists…
The breakdown of the money-saving-technique that I invented and perfected over 8 years.
They say that necessity is the mother of invention. If that’s the case, then helplessness is the mother of necessity, and poverty is the long-lost third cousin of helplessness. That makes money the great grandmother of all.
I am kidding.
I have no idea what I just said. Maybe, this is what adulting does to you because it is hard. I can’t stress this enough. If there is anything that I hated more than growing up and being drowned in responsibilities, it is juggling between saving money and spending enough.
This love-hate relationship status changed when I developed the WANF…
Wow! This is awesome. I didn't know that other cultures also eat/drink milk-rice. It's actually a delicacy in India. We prepare milk-rice called 'kheer' that is seasoned with cardamom and garnished with dry fruits. It's usually thicker - almost like a paste. However, it's the tastiest thing I get to eat. I could eat it all day.
It was nice reading this Tomas! Keep writing. And running. :)
Love is emotional safety — not mental trauma
“Hi,” I whispered.
I felt dizzy with apprehension. My chest felt more constricted than ever. I fidgeted with my fingers while I looked at the blue shoe on my left leg, missing the silver bow its other pair proudly boasted. No matter how hard I tried, I could not meet her eyes.
When I received no response from her, I turned around and looked at my dad, standing further away from the porch. He smiled and showed his right thumb — a small gesture symbolizing that he has my back no matter how bad it goes. …
Understanding human evolution
Human beings are animals though of a particular kind. We are primarily hairless and bear remarkable similarities with the apes. Nonetheless, we have been naturally selected to be the most superior of all living beings. In his play Hamlet, William Shakespeare wrote about the uniqueness of humans,
“What a piece of work is a man! How noble in reason, how infinite in faculty! In form and moving, how express and admirable! In action, how like an angel, in apprehension, how like a god! The beauty of the world! The paragon of animals!”
These tips can be broken into the 3Ps of an interview process.
Attending an interview can be nerve-wracking. We are all too afraid to say the wrong thing at the wrong time. No matter how hard we work or how good our resume is, we cannot seem to over-ride the innate fear of rejection. Worst of all, we fret over appearing stupid or a novice.
As meeting time nears, my nerves go haywire, and all knowledge mush together. Sometimes, the nervousness coupled with my introversion makes me feel burnout even before the actual interview. When I walk inside the meeting location, every other candidate in the waiting room appears like Elon Musk…
