Shopping

This was just something I wrote when I was bored one day. It's a rather dramatic and comical take on an everyday situation, so i hope you enjoy....

 

I open my eyes and as I scan the crowd, I know this is not going to be an easy mission. Much like the bulls of ancient Rome, I dig my toes in and scan the area for any and all possible escape routes. I ignore the shoving and pushing all around me and tune out the noise. Everything fades until all I can see is my destination. I can almost visualize neon arrows tracing my path for me. I take a deep breath and prepare myself for what would be one of the fastest and most dangerous races of my life.

Within seconds of leaving the frozen food aisle of D-Mart, I’m shoved against a shelf as a horde of shoppers stampede past me in an attempt to get the 50% off soaps and shampoos. My fingers quickly turning numb from the frozen items in my hand, I attempt to maneuver my way out of the discount crazed crowd. Luck is however not on my side, and I find myself pressed against a shelf for the second time in five minutes. The culprit this time is the announcement of a new discount on the sale of towels on the second floor. As my lungs are crushed, black spots appear in front of my eyes from the oxygen deprivation. My life seems to flash in front of my eyes, and I’m transported to ten minutes ago when I had been innocently waiting at the checkout counter. I can still remember the panic in my mother’s eyes when she realized we had forgotten to buy any curd or cheese. The look of anguish on her face had been enough to propel me into action. I had bravely volunteered to carry out the task for her and now I am minutes from death.

When I’m almost on the verge of blacking out, the crowd finally thins and for a few seconds I can see my mother scanning the crowd hoping to see me bringing her the precious curd and cheese that I had so foolishly ventured into the throng of shoppers for.

I take yet another steadying breath and push my way into the crowd once more. This time I am determined not to let anything, or anyone get in my way. Shopping carts are pushed out of the way, and I become one of the crowd as I join them in the ritual of elbowing that seems to be such an intrinsic part of them.

With an enormous lunge, I am finally clear of the aisles. As I gasp for air, my heart sinks as I realise the hardest part is far from over. For now, I have the most treacherous section of the store to cross – the narrow strip between the aisles and the checkout counter where EVERYTHING became an obstacle. I am now in a race against time. My competitors - the shopping carts that appear out of nowhere, the staff members walking with all the speed and inclination of a dead walrus, and the screaming children being pulled away from the toys by their exasperated mothers.

The cold of the items in my hand have numbed my fingers to such an extent that I can’t them anymore. Frostbite means nothing though, when the end is so near. Ultimately, it is the desperation in my mother’s gaze as she lifts the final few items from her cart onto the counter as sluggishly as possible in order to give me more time, that gives me the strength to launch myself into the fray. 

Dodge, duck and roll a trolley out of the way. Lunge, lean and leap over an abandoned basket. Pirouette, push and turn to avoid the incoming employee.  I’m almost there, I can nearly touch the counter with my fingertips if I stretch when I suddenly find myself flying into the air and falling on my ass with a resounding smack. All the items fly in the air, and I groan out loud when I see the fallen bag of fruit that caused my fall. With a bruised ego and bruised well everything, I lift myself up and try to limp way to my mother with what’s left with my dignity, when I feel the hairs on the back of my neck rise. I turn around with fear and trepidation in my eyes and find a horde of around 20 aunties coming towards me as they walk to a destination on the opposite side of the store. In a few seconds they would be on me, and I would be back to square one.

I have had enough at this point. Battered and bruised in more than a few places, my brain goes into overdrive, trying to figure out possible solutions. With steely eyes and a fiery determination, I get down on my knees and resort to the only option. Before I know it, I’m safe. YES, I army crawled/Mission Impossible-d my way to the other side. I’m just in time as not a second later the aunties pass me, their high-pitched giggles making my ears pop.

After they leave tears of relief spring to my eyes. My horrible ordeal is FINALLY OVER.

As I look up at my mother, I see a foreign look on her face. It almost looks like pride. I stand proudly with my chest puffed out as the curd and cheese are bagged. We walk out of the store and a sense of accomplishment settles over me. I had been through hell and back, and I HAD SURVIVED. I had tapped into a strength I had never known existed.

However, as I sit in the car headed home, a feeling of dread begins settling over me. I now have a new mission. A mission that would require a different kind of bravery. I cringe as I imagine my mother’s reaction when she finds the six pack of coffee I had slipped in when she had turned away………………………

 

 

 

 

 © 2022, Anika Agarwal. All rights reserved.

Verity, by Colleen Hoover - Review

Verity, by Colleen Hoover

(Amazon link)

Breathe in… 

Breathe out… 

It is JUST just a book.

Slam said book shut every five seconds to take a break from its pure intensity.

Resumes reading anyways.

Ohmygodnonononono… Don’tpleasedon’tdothat

Reach the end.

WHATINTHEWO-

Finish the book and stare at the ceiling in shock, trying to process everything that just happened.

This Mortal Coil, by Emily Suvada - Review

This Mortal Coil, by Emily Suvada

(Amazon, Simon & Schuster)

 

To say I’m not the biggest fan of the YA (Young Adult) genre would be a fairly accurate statement. In YA books, I find the romance quite often overwhelms the actual plot, and the personalities of the characters seem to be based entirely around their relationships. I realised a while back that this genre was just not for me. That being said, I recently discovered a YA book that wasn’t quite like the rest. 

Without further ado, let me introduce you to ‘This Mortal Coil’. Set in a world plagued by a lethal airborne virus, commonly known as Hydra, the plot centres around Catarina “Cat” Agatta. A series of flashbacks show that Cat was the daughter of Lachlan Agatta, the designer of the Influenza X vaccine and one of the world's best geneticists and foremost authorities on DNA. In a world where people are born with inbuilt panels, which they subsequently use to hack their genes, Lachlan’s knowledge was an invaluable resource. After the outbreak of Hydra, he had been kidnapped by Cartaxus, the government organization that had sprung up after the start of the worldwide pandemic. Cartaxus hoped that he would be able to recreate his previous work and come up with a vaccine against the Hydra virus before everyone was dead. As her father and best friend were dragged away by the Cartaxus forces, Cat managed to evade capture by hiding in the panic room of the house. 

That was more than two years ago. 

The Kind Worth Killing - Review

The Kind Worth Killing, by Peter Swanson

(Amazon, Kindle)

 I got this book for my birthday, and from the blurb it seemed like a typical thriller/murder mystery. And I was sort of right. You’ll soon see why. Right off the bat, I immediately got a ‘Strangers on a Train’ vibe (one of the most chilling movies I’ve ever seen..., but I’m getting off topic here). 

Two complete strangers that happen to end up in the same place start up a conversation. A seemingly casual conversation that ends up altering their lives forever. Lily Hayward is an enigmatic stranger that Ted Severson can’t help but open up to. Every personal detail about his life and his marital problems are spilt in a second. Even his darkest secret that he never imagined he would ever reveal comes out in front of Lily, the beautiful stranger he’s inexplicably drawn to. Then again, Lily talks little and unveils even less about herself, hence making her the ideal audience. Their conversation seems innocent enough. However, it takes a dark turn when Lily offers to put an end to Ted’s problem once and for all. Ted, though initially shocked, quickly realizes she’s serious. The more he thinks about it, the more entranced he gets. Soon, he is unable to refuse. Together, Lily and Ted begin hatching a plan to solve his problem. This was no ordinary conversation, and nothing was as simple as seemed. You see, the two of them were planning a murder. A murder that would end in the death of Ted’s wife, Miranda. 

My Diwali photos - 2021

Diwali, also known as the festival of lights. A day to celebrate the triumph of good over evil and light over darkness. This festival is celebrated all over in India, but especially in North India, which is where I’m from. I love Diwali for two reasons. The first obviously being firecrackers (firecrackers are awesome and that’s that). 

The other reason that I love Diwali is that it presents quite a few opportunities to take beautiful pictures. Diwali is celebrated over two days, but the main festival is celebrated on a new moon night. The pitch-black night with softly glowing diyas, and firecrackers lighting up the sky, is simply *chef’s kiss*. The number of photo opportunities is therefore infinite. I have been trying to learn photography for about a year now. I would love to say that I am good or even decent, but that would be a lie. However, I got out the camera and snapped some shots on both days, hoping to get at least a few nice ones. Let me say that I was not prepared for how good they came out. Usually when I take pictures, maybe 5 out of 30 aren’t completely terrible. This time, almost all of them were so good that I was shocked. Now again, when I say, “so good”, I mean compared to my what I usually produce. They aren’t anything special or world class, but I still like them as this was my first time getting a bunch of decent pictures. Now onto the pictures themselves.

These were taken on the first day of Diwali. They involved me getting up close and personal with the diyas. I’m not even kidding when I say the camera was in very real danger of catching on fire. They were some of the first pictures I took and mainly involved a lot of experimentation as this was the first time I was taking pictures at night. I’m mostly happy with how they came out. I just wished that I had composed them better. Right now, they look a little messy and all over the place. It isn’t clear what exactly I’m trying to show in the first two. 

 These pictures were again taken on the same day as the previous ones. These are all of a really beautiful diya holder which is in the shape of a Ganesha. It was kept on a table and the garland of flowers wrapped around it, provided an opportunity for some really soft, glowing pictures. With these pictures, I knew exactly what I wanted. I’ve noticed that in most of my pictures I really love having a shallow depth of field. That is evident in all of these pictures. The one really bad habit I had while taking these pictures was that I could NEVER hold the camera straight. Therefore, most of them came out wonky and unusable. Even in these you can notice the slant of the pictures towards the left. 

 

 

 We are back to me completely invading the personal space of these diyas. These pictures had me lying on the floor with the camera lens an inch away from the flame. They were taken on the next day, that is the main day when Diwali is celebrated. Again, the shallow depth of field is very clear in these pictures. I learnt how to compose my pictures in a better way and therefore I liked these ones a lot more than the first group. These are some of my favorite pictures of the night. 

 

 

These pictures are exactly what they look like. I saw some candles on a table and thought they looked pretty. I played around a bit with how to frame them, because the flames looked very cool, especially since the background was completely black. I wanted to show the glow and highlight the pink of the candle. However, trying to show that on camera was HARD and unimaginably painful. What you are seeing are some of my better attempts. 

Now, we come too my favorites aka the firecracker photos. Taking these photos was probably the most nerve-wracking thing I’ve ever done. Firstly, this was my dad’s camera I was using, so the pressure to keep it in pristine condition was immense. Secondly, although I’m not scared of crackers, the loud bangs startled me enough that I nearly tripped several times, and therefore almost dropped the camera (my DAD’S camera). Thirdly, trying to take the pictures without getting burnt was like trying to take a bath without getting wet. Otherwise known as trying to achieve the impossible. The fact that I actually got some decent pictures is something I will always be proud of, because it was NOT easy. The trick with these pictures was to underexpose all your shots. You couldn’t do too much because otherwise the pictures would come out dull and muted, you also couldn’t do too little as they would then come washed out. You had to focus on the brightest part and then take the picture. The best way is to use a zoom lens, as it’s the only safe way of getting these pictures. 

 

 

 

 

 Don’t ask me what I was trying to achieve in this picture. The honest to god answer is I DON’T KNOW. I don’t even remember taking this picture. It was only later when I was going through the camera did I find this. I know that I took it since my dad and I were the only ones using the camera and since his hand is in the picture, it had to have been me who took it. I honestly don’t even know where I was standing or what I was doing when I took this picture. This photo will forever remain a mystery to me. 

We finally come to my two most favorite pictures that I took over the course of both days. I again knew what I wanted in both of them, but I was sorely unprepared for how pretty they came out. Like I mentioned, almost all the pictures came out wayyy better than I expected. In the first one, what surprised me was how sharp the image came out. It didn’t appear as sharp through the viewfinder and therefore I was pleasantly surprised by the end result. The second picture is of a flowerpot. Just before and just after it explodes, a small flame comes out of it. I wanted to capture this small flame, when the flowerpot had just started to spark. I took the picture and got what I wanted. The unexpected element in this, were the small softly glowing embers floating all around it. They just added an extra something to the picture and I loved it.

All the Diwali pictures you see, involved a lot of experimentation and a TON of completely unusable pictures as well. Some of these pictures were complete accidents. However, I’m happy with them as I’m still learning, and these are honestly not bad for a beginner. 

 

  © 2021, Anika Agarwal. All rights reserved.

One of Us Is Lying, by Karen McManus - Review

 

(Amazon, Kindle, Flipkart)

First line. Think of a book that literally has all the ingredients to be the perfect murder mystery. A murder that is most mysterious, a victim with quite a few enemies, four suspects, all of them with something to hide, and an amazing plot twist. Imagine, then, that the author just blindly threw all these elements into a blender, crossed their fingers and hoped for the best. That is precisely what happened in this book. The author could have honestly made this book into an amazing novel, but she instead managed to create a concoction blander than a bowl of mashed potatoes.

Murder on the Orient Express - Review

 

Murder on the Orient Express, by Agatha Christie

(Amazon, Flipkart)

'The Murder on the Orient Express' is yet another spectacular Agatha Christie book. It was the first Agatha Christie book I’d ever read and from the first chapter, I was hooked. I had initially read it in 4th grade and probably skimmed the entire book, but I still understood enough to be amazed. However, when I re-read it yesterday, I understood for the first time why it’s so popular. Among all of her books, this one has one of the most unique endings and plot twists. While reading a murder mystery, people generally form their own opinions and ideas about who the murderer might be, but in this book, it is next to impossible to guess the identity of the killer. 

Learning to write with my left hand

The title makes it pretty obvious that I learnt how to write with my left hand, aka my non-dominant hand. Yes, this does bring a couple of questions to mind, such as why? Why? and oh yeah, Why? Well, to answer these questions, I need to rewind this story to about a year ago.

On June 18th, 2020, there was a young girl completely bored out of her mind. Online classes had barely started and she already wanted to bang her head against something. REPEATEDLY. In order to relieve the boredom, she did what every single teenager did during online classes - SWITCH TABS. As she was scrolling through YouTube, she spotted a particular video about a girl learning to write with her non-dominant hand. She clicked on that video and the rest was history. That single click started her year-long journey of learning how to write with her left hand.

 

Day 1 - June 11, 2020

The Hardest Challenge - A poem

Freaked out over the final exams

Reading and revising and trying to cram

Panic and pressure were in the air

When something happened that was definitely rare.

A deadly virus was sweeping the world

Everywhere fear was starting to unfurl

Each day brought news of death

The virus was snuffing out countless a breath.

Schools shut down, exams cancelled

People forced inside, jobs abandoned

Restless children, worried many an adult

All of them forced to adjust.

Harry Potter series - review

Harry Potter, by JK Rowling

Amazin IN

‘Harry Potter’, quite literally two of the most famous words in the world of books. 

At my age, most kids have read the books, or at least seen the movies. It's quite unusual to come across someone who doesn’t know about this series. Therefore, considering how famous it is, it might seem strange that I have never mentioned it until now. Well, there is a reason for it. Reviewing a book series like Harry Potter is a huge task. There are so many plots and layers to it that trying to explain it without giving away anything crucial is almost impossible. But, considering the fact that this series is legendary, I am going to try to review it, as it would almost be a crime not to do so. 

(Minor spoilers ahead)

All his life, Harry Potter had known nothing other than being bullied and getting pushed around, courtesy of his aunt, uncle and cousin. With both his parents dead, they were his only family. Then comes his 11th birthday, the day that changed his life forever. He discovers that he is actually a wizard and that all the unexplainable things that seemed to happen around him was magic. The delighted boy gets shipped off to Hogwarts, a school of witchcraft and wizardry. What happens next can only be described as mayhem. The series follows Harry and his two best friends Ron and Hermione as they navigate life at Hogwarts and face the impossible challenges thrown at them.