theuncomplicatedlifeofa16yrold

  I have been lucky to have been able to travel to a lot, like a lot, of places in my life. I have seen the st basils cathedral in Moscow to Angkor wat in Cambodia the only problem is, I don't remember them. But now again I have surprised everyone around me including myself by saying that the dal I am having reminds me of Turkey (Chorba- a Turkish red lentil soup with mint, mint dal) or how that particular afternoon calls for pasteis de belem (I think that that's probably the Shops name but I basically mean their famous egg custard tarts) which turns out are a bit tough to source considering we had last had them in Lisbon, ..Portugal. So instead of frowning while I try to memorize the history of a place I have decided to be true to my actual passion, food. And write more about the places I have been (and will hopefully go to) and the food I find there.

 

 I just finished reading a romantic-comedy-young adult-fiction book called tweet cute. This was a bit different from the murder mystery books I usually prefer, however seeing it won a goodreads choice award, I had to give it a go. It's about a girl Pepper who tries her best to fit into the competitive ivy league targeting crowd of her new school in New York and about Jack a boy who feels like he is constantly in the shadows of his perfect , identical,  twin brother. And the main plot- cheese sandwich feud. But dont worry the book isnt cheesey hahah..aha..ha...ok. Jack parents own a deli and Pepper's parent run a burger franchise, so it is inevitable that they both have major twitter war on the recipe of a cheese sandwitch. its a book super worth reading.

It had been a while since I had thrown a controversial speech at my school, and I took the opportunity with my final term English viva. I spoke about stereotypes......specifically in schools. As we all know there are general stereotypes in every school. Such as, students who aren't the best at studies are lazy and don't work hard enough and that students who get very good marks are considered better, in every possible way. That they are greater. (this is when I realized that my brain's 'make-sure-you-don't-say-something-dumb' filter thing was off) But these stereotypes are so normal and ingrained that we don't even notice them anymore, and that needs to change. Today I am specifically going to speak about gender stereotypes. A lot of schools have these in their structure, their dress code. It is clearly specified that girls aren't allowed to wear nail polish, earrings, henna, etc which kind of expects you to assume that boys will never wear these. And ye...

Tomorrow is the new year. And so it is time to be grateful. To be grateful for all the times we were happy in this not-particularly-easy year. To be grateful for the people we have around us and to be grateful for the time we got to spend with them. So here are a few things I am grateful for 1) All the time I had, to do silly things with my friends like practice putting kajal, making lasagne, or gathering the courage to use a curler on my hair (those things get really hot!).  2) The times I had to sort out my emotions instead of distracting myself by going out and playing. Playing outside is really important, but sometimes those thoughts need to be sorted too. 3) Learning to type with both hands. I never needed to before, but now with pages of assignments to be done on teams...  4) learning that running around doesn't mean that you are being productive and that sitting around doesn't mean that you are wasting your life. 5) Being able to eat with chopsticks without endangering ...

“Patel Sir you are in breakout room 2, Patel sir? SIR?” “Rajeshwari Ma’am you are on mute” “oh, I was just talking to myself haha” “Ma’am the students need to start their exam” “right of course. Patel sir you are in room 2, Madhubala Ma’am you are in room 5, Hadhangari Sir in room 3, and Srinad Ma’am in room 6. Any doubts?” “Yes, there is no one in room 1 and room 4” “What? That seems to be correct haha. Thangamani Sir and Roopmani Ma’am you are in room 1 and room 4. Is that alright Ma’am and Sir?  ………Ma’am, sir? THANGAMANIIIII? ROOPMANIIII? -” “They are not in the call “ “Oh. OK moving on- “ “They are here now” “Great- “ “I am not in a room Ma’am; I am in the main call only.” “Yes Patel sir, I haven’t started the rooms yet- “ “Ma’am, which room am I in?” “Thangamani sir?” “no” “Roopmani Ma’am?” “yes” “You are in room 4” “ok” “not you Sir, Ma’am. Thangamani Sir you are in room 1” “Ok” “Ok, now I hope everything is clear. Moving on we have Pushpender Ma’am in room 2” “but there is P...