When the pandemic hit last year and the sudden changes in the kind of life we started living, most people’s mental health was affected. Like everybody else, I was affected too. However, I found my solace in snacks. Tired? I snacked. Happy? I snacked. Sad? I snacked. Bored? I snacked. Have to deal with something? First snack. Snacking helped me cope with the loss, the helplessness, and to some extent, even the guilt. If anything, I became a habitual snacker.

I snacked all the time — before the meals, after the meals, along with the meals, in between the meals…

“The visions we offer our children shape the future. It matters what those visions are. Often they become self-fulfilling prophecies. Dreams are maps.”

— Carl Sagan, American scientist and writer

I always loved listening to stories — big or small, happy or sad, realistic or fairytales — as long as there was a moral to it and kept my mind preoccupied. Every night by the bedside, my father would tell my sister and me stories that we already heard before. He had a habit of repeating stories because we had already exhausted his sources and perhaps even his memory.

However…

“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…

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…

Like the Romans, Greeks were ahead of their time and have influenced the western culture as we know it today. They contributed to every field — literature, sports, sciences. If anything, the ancient Greeks have played a significant role in bringing advancements to the world as we see them today. Let’s have a look at some of such influential Greeks who heavily guided ancient history.

1. Leonidas I

The son of King Anaxandridas II, Leonidas I, was believed to come from the lineage of Heracles and matched him in terms of valour. He was famous for his command during the Battle of Thermopylae…

Human history bears lessons for mankind in multiple aspects — the lessons from the wars and victories, natural and man-made disasters and the destructions these caused. Yet, there were few instances in the past from which there was no coming back. Let’s have a look at two of such destructive moments in history that questions our humanity.

1. The terror regime of the Khmer Rouge

The Khmer Regime was a Kampuchean Communist Party that ‘governed’ for four years in Cambodia during the 1970s. During their ‘agrarian socialist’ rule, they wrecked the political and economic regime of the land. People were forced to relocate to rural areas and practice…

Chinese are not recent mass producers of various goods. They had a glorious past and gave the world several useful inventions throughout history.

Their discoveries have made an enormous impact on the eastern and the western world as we see them today. Let’s have a look at three such Chinese inventions that continue to benefit us even today.

1. The Compass was invented in the fourth century B.C.

The primitive Chinese compass was first developed in the Song Dynasty of the fourth century B.C. and was used for military expeditions and navigations in ships. These lodestone compasses came with a ‘south pointer’ pointing towards the south at the resting phase.

…

My fingers ran through the edges of the envelope for the umpteenth time that day. My legs pushed my body to take another turn on my chair, and the empty office came into my view. Apart from my cubicle, everything else was clean, spotless, and silent. For once, no telephones were ringing. Perhaps that’s why I enjoyed working on Sundays the most.

As if on a cue, the main office door clicked open, and my boss walked in. …