Ripples In A Teacup

I’ve heard the words “cryptocurrency” and “bitcoin” for many years now and had a very vague idea of what these meant. I mean, I “knew” what a cryptocurrency is and that a bitcoin is a type of cryptocurrency, but didn’t really “know”, “know” what these meant, if you “know” what I mean. A week ago, I started writing a short story which has as one of its characters a man who trades in bitcoins and suddenly there was a reason for me to really “know” what these words meant. So, I turned to Wikipedia and other internet sources to tell me what cryptocurrencies are and found that cryptocurrencies are digital or virtual currencies that are not issued by governments or banks. They are decentralized and operate independently of any authority. Bitcoin is the first and most well-known cryptocurrency, but there are hundreds or possibly thousands of other cryptos, such as Ethereum, Ripple, and Litecoin. Transactions with cryptocurrencies are recorded on a public ledger called a blockchain. Which beg...

  I think I was around ten years old when I heard that Aryabhatta invented the zero. I had vision of this clever mathematician sitting on the banks of a river and conjuring up the zero. However, I soon became skeptical. How could someone invent the zero? I mean, if before the invention of zero, someone had two mangoes, she eats both of them, her friend asks her how many mangoes do you have left, what would she say? Would she be at a total loss for words because the zero hadn’t been invented until then? When I asked this question to my mother (a software engineer), she told me that what Aryabhatta invented was actually the concept of zero. At that point in time, I did not question her any further, though I did not fully comprehend what she told me. I hear about the “invention of zero” time and again and these days I want to scream, what was invented wasn’t zero, but the modern notation and symbol for zero. The concept of zero as a placeholder in positional numeral systems was in...

Climate change and global warming are very high up on my ‘worry list’ and I found this CNN report about European ski resorts closing because there's no snow, highly distressing. It looks like climate change on account of global warming is on an irreversible course. This year, Europe is having a very mild winter and ski resorts closing down is just one of its impacts. To make things worse, a new study says that up to half of the world’s glaciers could disappear even if ambitious climate targets are hit. We know that we are running out of time and so, what can we do to fight this looming catastrophe? Individual personal sacrifices like using public transport or not using plastic bags will help, but I feel the need of the hour is for big policy changes like: switching to nuclear energy en masse – yes, I feel the cleanliness of nuclear fuel outweighs the risk posed by a leak; banning the manufacture of single use plastic bags and other plastic products – yes, ban the manufacture...

 My short story "A Jar of Laddoos" has been published on Story Mirror. Please give it a read and tell me if you liked it. https://storymirror.com/read/story/english/tjjofjtv/a-jar-of-ladoos

Let me first confess that I used to enjoy playing with firecrackers, although its been over 5 years since the last time i did. Theres just something about seeing that pop of colour and seeing the light you ignited hit the sky- that stirs a gush of excitement within me. Even this year, seeing the colours erupt around the city at night, was undeniably a sight to behold.  It was a sight to behold, but the sounds werent too pleasant. My two cats spent the better part of last weak hiding under beds, trembling and cowering. Here are two photos, both taken from my living room in our 24 th storey flat, which offers a view of the sea and the Bandra-Worli sealink. The first one was taken on October 25 th , the day after Diwali at 8:30 am.  The normally azure blue of the sky was obscured by a thick sheet of smog.     The second photo was taken today, October 30 th , at roughly the same time. While clearly an improvement, the sky hasnt regained its clear blue, and the smog...

 I recently read about a New Zealand girl of Maori origin being left hurt when staff at her day care shortened her name. Apparently, the educator found “Mahinarangi”, which means “Moon in the sky” to be too tough to pronounce and shortened it to 'Rangi'. Her mother explained Mahinarangi’s name is often mispronounced and mocked by her peers, leaving the young girl “embarrassed” and lacking the confidence to correct anyone. I live in Mumbai and out here, we have people from all over India. Occasionally one encounters a name which is difficult to pronounce, but to be honest, I’ve never heard of someone shortening or changing someone else’s name because it was too hard to pronounce. Indians from the northern and western parts of India tend to have shorter names than those from the southern parts. Also, the languages prevalent in the south are different from languages spoken elsewhere in the country. Northerners find south Indian names to be tongue twisters, but I’ve never heard of ...

Should teenagers train with weights? I’ve come to realise that many folks think teenagers, especially girls, shouldn’t train with weights. And it’s no consolation to have found that even my parents felt the need to regale me with ballads of the irreversible damage weightlifting apparently inflicted on teens Fortunately, it’s been sorted. My parents have been re-educated and the gym supervisor has been “brought” around.  It panned out like this. I started using my dad’s dumbbells around six months ago and then, after we moved house three months ago, began to frequent the gym inside our new apartment complex. My dad and mom kept reiterating that lifting weights might not be a good idea, since I was get to ‘grow up’ fully and my muscles might not develop fully they way they should. I ignored them. Then the gym instructor started telling me and my dad quite loudly that I shouldn’t lift weights and should restrict myself to the treadmill. It was all very annoying. Thankfully, my parents...