Category: 2019

I don’t think much comes close to the feeling that Sunday brings. It’s very liberating to be free.

A while back I wrote about a moot court competition I had participated in as a Researcher, and how much I enjoyed that competition, and working with my team. I’m pleased to inform you that the moot went smoothly, and we met our expectations, and were happy at the end of the competition – the three things I was looking forward to the most. The team finally came back, but we haven’t been able to sit down together.

That’s one of the craziest things. I feel like throughout this moot, six of us got together as a team so infrequently that it was a rarity we celebrated with food. All my memories of 6 of us as a team have food associated with them: one night we ordered pizza to the admin block, once we went to Mocha. Therefore, it was only fair that once everyone found the time, we got together for good food again.

We’re an eccentric lot, and I don’t think many people saw us as a “strong” moot team. People are quick to labels that way. Moot teams which have experience are “strong” and suddenly have higher expectations cast upon them by society at large, and the society they live in. I guess this is true of all competitions and competitive activities.

But we managed, and how.

This year will be one of the most beautiful, wretched years of Law school for me because it gave me an opportunity I haven’t had before. I’m very proud of my teammates, genuinely. I think each of them, rather us, overcome some very real fears we had in life. The lessons we took away from the last one year will probably serve us even outside the moot experience and our campus life. The best part about it was that we each supported each other on this journey, but allowed the journey to take it’s own course for every individual.

It’s been a privilege.

I can’t wait to see what the next year brings, and I can only hope my teammates are as happy as the end of next year as my teammates this year are. That’ll mean the world to me.

Also sending prayers to Sri Lanka. Some disastrous stuff has gone down in that country, and to see a place suffer with so much violence is something that draws at my heartstrings like not much else does. One day I will be in a position to help with more than just my prayers, and I will utilize it to the best I can. That’s a public promise.

Saturday classes are not a commonality at my University. So even if they’re hosted because we’re getting a holiday mid-week, they’re uncomfortable for the system, which is used to waking up late, eating aloo parantha, going back to sleep, lazing around, eating aloo chips, and doing an assortment of activities associated with the first day of the weekend.

Naturally I dozed through classes today.

After which I gave a viva (probably my last of the semester, hopefully), and then caught up with some stuff in the admin before retiring to my room for the weekend. The hostel, that way is an excellent place. My room, especially, has this insane ability to draw you in and make you never want to leave again. It’s wonderous.

In other news, the book reading has picked up, so hopefully reviewing will pick up speed too. With it being exam time, I’m going to look for as many avenues as possible to spend my time not studying. Having these options will help me ensure my brain isn’t fully fried over the next two weeks.

The fun part about this time’s exams is that they end on my birthday – which I felt a little disheartened by. It was a full throwback to my 12th Grade exams again. But life is cyclical in a lot of ways, so maybe this is one of them. I’ll celebrate my birthday anyway. Study in advance so as to leave enough time to enjoy myself for one or two hours as the clock strikes midnight.

This alternate day off thing is really messing with my brain because it’s impossible to get into a routine of any kind. My sleep cycle has gone for an absolute toss, my mood to go for classes is non-existent (and plenty of exit routes in terms of work are available). It’s very, very difficult to stay motivated, because all I want to do is read books, watch TV, and lie down in the comfort of my bed. So much so, that I have spent an entire morning worth of this holiday doing absolutely, positively nothing. I woke up and used my phone a few times. I also silenced my roommate’s alarms and engaged in some conversation about how we both feel like doing nothing this morning. And so, we woke up only in the afternoon – beginning the day at 12:30 as if it was 7:30. What fun.

The issue with this alternate day class system is the fact that it’s made me question what my ideal work week would be like. I’ve always advocated a four-day work-week in my head. The French system is something that appeals to me – and any work culture which does not require or expect you to take work back home, or be online post a reasonable 6/7pm hour, is one that I’m thoroughly appreciative of, especially where it is able to produce the same kind of results on the business front. This is largely because I feel like it allows people to live a healthier all-round life, in terms of their ability to deveolp outside the workspace. In my four day week, I’d allow either Wednesdays off mandatorily, or alternatively, allow employees to take days off on a rotational basis, giving everyone fair chance to get a long weekend in.

However, this alternate day system makes me question the possibility of genuinely giving Wednesdays off. I’m wondering whether it’s prohibitive in terms of helping people get into good schedules.

But then again, if a new generation starts off with Wednesdays off (i.e., my batchmates & people graduating with me), maybe our schedules will work themselves around the fact that we have a mid-week holiday.

What fun that’ll be if it ever materializes.

Today, my time as the Secretary of the Debating Society at my University came to an end. I had a stint of a little more than one year, supported by one of my closest friends and two regular readers of this blog. It’s been the wildest ride. I didn’t really anticipate any of what the role would give me when I found out that I had been elected (rather unexpectedly), because honestly, I wasn’t in the country, or in a network zone (I was in the jungle in Kenya) when the elections happened. But I have, honestly, learnt a lot in the last one year: about myself and the way I conduct myself. Moreover, I have learnt where I stand on how to cultivate cultures in spaces. I’m grateful the people I worked with gave me the space and helped me execute what ideas I came up with. I also realize, after typing all this that we came up with more ideas as a collective than I did as an individual, and we all ended up trying to execute these to the best of our ability. Irrespective of whether they worked or not, a new batch of kids seem to care about the activity, which I think is nice.

After elections concluded, I unwinded for the rest of the day by reading, binge-watching FRIENDS, and then watching two movies back-to-back. The second movie I watched was Spotlight, a movie I’ve watched before only on flights. I watched it once on an Emirates flight from Bangalore to Dubai, and then on an Etihad flight from Abu Dhabi to Washington. I know this is an extremely privileged statement.

But watching the movie on my laptop made me realize how related to those flights my memory of the movie had been. All I could think about while watching it this time around was what I experienced on the flight when I was watching the movie for the first and second time. I remember going to pee at a specific time in the movie. I remember my food being served at a particular time. I remember a passenger announcement disrupting one of the most gripping scenes in the movie.

Spotlight is ridiculously good. I’d recommend.

I also found this reading list: https://www.bustle.com/articles/141339-if-you-hope-spotlight-wins-best-picture-here-are-11-books-youll-be-obsessed-with

Hello.

Important: https://www.justice.gov/storage/report.pdf

My mum’s been away for a while now (I think four days, or five?) – she’s off on a Vipassana course. I don’t think I’ve ever blogged about this before, so bear with me. My mother discovered Vipassana almost one year ago now, and her first course was in May 2018 – it started on my birthday, so she left Bangalore within 1 day of us meeting, last time.

I remember a lot of emotions: I didn’t understand why she had to go away for so long. I didn’t understand why she was starting this thing on my birthday – I felt like there was no need for her to. I also felt like it was unreasonable on me that she was doing this – walking out for 10 days and then walking back in as if she didn’t miss out on anything. These are horrible first reactions, I am well-aware. But she seemed super intent, and also super, duper worried about whether she’d last all 10 days. So I remember telling her before she left home that she needs to take one day at a time, and commend herself for each day that she manages. Especially because this was going to be such a new experience for her, I thought that was absolutely crucial.

A lot of things happened when she was away. My dad and I fought a few times. My grandfather passed away. It was a lot that was happening.

She came back from the entire Vipassana experience having really enjoyed it. Over the last year, several other members of my family, and several of my mothers friends have tried out the experience and enjoyed it. Now, initially she tried asking me to participate as well. I was very closed-minded. Ultimately, I decided that right now I didn’t feel interested enough in the concept, and maybe someday in the future, maybe that interest will grow naturally. It’s something I’d like to be open to later on. Just, not now. Not for me.

Anyway. All those reactions and emotions of her going away were a manifestation I think of the fact that I missed her presence. I’m not entirely sure. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that when she wasn’t there – a lot of other things happened, which are things that happened just as a result of the fact that she was doing her own thing. Something that was important to her.

Now, I feel like if she does these courses, I’ve learnt to just be happy that she’s doing her own thing. Which I think is a change that’s worth acknowledging.