What does a normal day in lockdown look like? Desi Edition

 Waking up with a lot of struggle at noon, hearing your parents scream at you for being an incompetent kid, scrolling through Instagram to drown out their voices and what do you see?- an old friend from school just started a youtube channel, another one just loves to socialize, then its Disha Patani in her Calvin Klein sports apparel, your college friend organizing a quiz, and then Tanmay Bhat's streaming but before my lazy ass could swipe up for the link, it switches to an ad of detox capsules that helps you lose weight. There's this gorgeous girl with amazing hair and flawless skin speaking about how these artificial 'detox capsules' is the sole reason for her weight loss, and a flashback photo of her weighing 86 kgs, two months ago pops up.

For a moment I'm tempted to talk about this to my mom and order it to see the magic happen with my own eyes. But then coming back to my senses, I think about how did this ad pop up? Oh! the world of technology that we're trapped in!

My mom and I had a screaming match last night when she was trying t force feed me one more Aloo parantha, slathered with a layer of white Makhan whose glisten could light up a pitch-black room, and I shouted at her refusing to eat that. Upon my dismissal of her which came wrapped up in a bucket load of calories, with fire in her eyes, she asked me with her voice laced with ice, "why?" I, on the other hand, holding up my wall of resilience as high as I could, closed my eyes, Chloe TIng's workout regime flashing in my mind, exhaled and with opening my eyes, muttered two words, that can break a Punjabi mother's heart, " losing weight"

I wanted to leave the dining room there and then, go back into my room and cower in a corner, because, in my house, under no circumstances do you refuse food especially for reasons as lame as weight loss. But after being home for months, not even quarantined in the house but on the couch - binge-watching and binge-eating, I'd put on a crazy amount of weight, the weight that took me 4 years of hostel life, the last of which was spent in the gym. But there was no point explaining this to my mom, my mom who feeds my diabetic dad Halwa-puri, when she's made something he's not very fond of, and without fail puts sweets in his lunch, instead of fruits. She thinks that you build muscles by gobbling down bottles of ghee and sweet lassi. So, rightfully so, she looked at my dad and said," kedi Ji aulaad paida kiti hai" which translates to what kind of a kid have we given birth to!

This cues my father to do the two things, he's best at                                                                                   1. supporting my mother                                                                                                                               2. Looking at me with disappointment filled eyes

My mom continues," All day you kids will sit on your butt, because of which it's swollen like a balloon and you blame my paranthas for it. The reason you're fat is that damned phone of yours. Throw it away NOW! See how you'll start dropping with a speed of one pound per day!" What fucked up logic is this.

I get up from my chair and retreat back onto the couch while slowly mumbling," I's final. No more greasy food or sugar for me. I'm on a diet now! I need to lose weight."

The screaming match was concluded by her obvious screaming," Weight loss! WEIGHT loss! WEIGHT LOSS! Let's see your weight loss by giving up on food. Your bones are going to crumble by sitting down on your ass all day (the funniness and the logic of this statement has been lost in translation)"

So Mr.Zuckerberg's doing might have led to my hone picking this up and thrown the 'detox capsules' ad in my face. That's so fucking crazy. you don't even need to write in a message anymore.

So, that's how my life's summed up - a hostile home environment! support what's that?

Nothing to do

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Social Media

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Mental Health blow to pieces 

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Distraction by netflix 

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Feeling hungry?

↓

Binge-eat

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Step up on the weighing scale 

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Mental health blown to pieces Again

A man called Ove - the book review

 

A man called Ove is a book that will make you go through a rollercoaster of emotions, it’s going to make you laugh, it’s going to make you cry, and before you realize it's going to make you fall in love with every single character.

The book takes you through the journey of a 59-year-old man called Ove who is angry, grumpy, sees the world in black & white and is dead-set in his ways- nothing could ever change his mind, even if his thoughts were as absurd as,” Ove feels an instinctive skepticism towards all people taller than six feet; the blood can’t quite make it all the way up to the brain.”

Ove is a character so relatable, each and every one of us has met or known a person like him be it your father, your grandfather, or an uncle staying in your apartment building. I believe every male who turns a day over 50 starts possessing a bit of Ove’s personality! He’s accurately described in the book as,” the most inflexible man in the world.”

Ove was a man who could fix anything – be it a creaking cabinet, a broken regulator, a bicycle, a car, or even an exhaust fan. It felt as if he spoke the language of machines, but didn’t understand the first thing about people which is quite fair because, for a person so kind, humans of the world could never be worth understanding.

The story begins when a loud and interfering family moves next doors to Ove. Ove, who loved keeping to himself, and the last thing he wanted was to socialize with this family. But the family incorporates themselves into Ove’s life as if they’d known him for years which infuriates Ove so hard that he….well, I think you should give the book a read to know what happens next.

‘A man called Ove’ is an incredibly written book but if you’re looking for a book that’s thrilling and suspenseful, you might not want to read this. This book must not be read for its plot but, for its story, its characters, and for the love with which it’s written.

This a perfect book to get back into the habit of reading. Its humor is so brilliant that it genuinely will make you laugh out loud at a few places. Fredrick Backman’s writing style is so beautiful that he breezes through a few topics so effortlessly that may otherwise be so dreadful, and leave you wondering for hours. He describes an old friendship so beautifully yet simply as,” when people don’t share it(sorrow), there’s a good chance that it will drive them apart instead.”                                                                             

He describes something as dark and heavy as coping with someone’s death with such ease, it just breaks you -
, “We always think there's enough time to do things with other people. Time to say things to them. And then something happens and then we stand there holding on to words like 'if'.”

If you’re looking for something sincere, amiable, and funny to read, something to make you feel warm on a  sad, cold, lonely night – I’d hundred percent recommend you to read ‘A man called Ove’ by Fredrick Backman.