Soumya's Weird Musings

 In the general timeframe of 2008 or class three, I was faced with a new situation. I became disillusioned about what I knew and how much more I had to learn. The process was not easy, and it was even harder because of this difficulty I had with interpersonal relationships. All this to say that I was very insecure about what I thought I knew and what I actually knew. Every new idea was accompanied by the doubt, "What if I'm wrong?" One day, our school organized a trip to a nearby grocery store. We were going to learn to manage our money and deal with a real-world setting. We all had a budget of ten rupees.  I don't remember my criteria for buying something, but I do remember being partial to stationery (because I still am). I saw a pack of pencils: Natraj, pack of ten, the kind that every kid wanted to have and you were the "cool kid" if you did. I wanted desperately to buy them. I was admiring the pack from a distance: it was on a shelf and there was still ...

 Whoever said it was more important to be kind than right could not handle being served a conflicting belief. The sentiment reeks of a sore loser. Also, who said the two were separate? People can tell ruthless lies and the gentlest of truths. But if we want  to view the two as mutually exclusive, I think correctness trumps kindness. The way I interpret this, the underlying tussle is between maintaining interpersonal relations and reaching a workable conclusion. The world is often against the latter. Preferring interpersonal relations - choosing kindness - is a short-sighted goal. It appeases everyone for the time being, but it doesn't solve anything. The problem, argument or conflict will resurface. It may even become compounded. Eventually, there will be a point where kindness will not solve anything. However, correctness can be a bitter pill to swallow. This is especially true if correctness unearths a conflicting notion to long-held beliefs. In this case, one would naturall...

  February 6, 2022 marks the day Bharat Ratna Lata Mangeshkar passed away, and what a loss it is. It’s apt that she received the civilian honor that literally means “Jewel of India” because that is indeed what she was. The news of her death in itself is a shock, but the implications are what scared me even more. There are sentiments I associate with her passing that I was too afraid to voice before, but I don’t imagine there will be a better time for them. The first thought that crossed my mind as I ruminated the implication of her passing was (and forgive me for naming a person outright and for the harshness of my words), I don’t want to live in a world of Neha Kakkar's! What I really meant, I suppose, is that I still want to have music in this world that is more than just digitized voices and background noise to lose your mind to. I am partial to music that expresses emotions of more than what I hear in music that has been coming out since roughly 2015. (And I want to clari...