My views

Our world is being rampaged by the coronavirus(Covid-19) and new personal and social norms have been created in order to prevent the spread of the virus. As we are unsure whether if the virus will be eradicated or the fact that it may continue to remain on earth, we have to equip ourselves for the future in order to be able to live with it. In this blog which is the first of a duology, I will be looking at 3 normal features that we were accustomed to before the spread of the virus and how these features will be reshaped and remodeled in the future. I will also be giving my predictions on what we can expect from these changes in the future. 3 features of the ' Old Normal ' and how they will be modified for the ' New Normal '. 1. Wearing A Mask In Public Prior to the Covid-19 spread, it was not at all necessary to wear a mask in the public. Moreover, people who were sick were only encouraged to wear it. However, it is now made mandatory for everyone to wear a...

I have always been interested in tennis from a young age. My father is a huge tennis fan and loves to watch matches and analyse the different strategies the players use and how they play. Seeing my father's love for the game, my interest grew gradually as well. Luckily, when  I resettled in Tokyo, I found to my joy that there were multiple tennis courts and a lot of top-class tennis coaching centres. I immediately asked my parents to join me in a coaching centre and I had my first class before the first two weeks of my arrival itself!  As my tennis journey continued, I too started watching the matches of all time legends such as Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Pete Sampras to name a few. Although all these players are exceptional, one player whose game and especially his return of the serve I truly admired was Andre Agassi . At the same time, I was really interested in the autobiography genre and was eagerly searching for good quality autobiographies from which I could l...

Due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, many countries are forced to ensue lockdown orders on its citizens; thereby not allowing them to go outside. Confined to the walls of their houses, many people are watching a lot of movies and web series. Let me assure you here, that I too fall into that category; and as being a big movie buff, I have already watched several movies; most of them being in Malayalam. Among those movies, a real gem which stood out for me was the 1993 cult classic movie, Manichitrathazhu . Directed by Fazil and written by Madhu Muttam , this pyschological horror film is centered around a huge anscestral mansion named Madampally; which was racked by ancient superstitions. The family owning the house did not live in it because they believed that certain blood-thirsty spirits are locked up inside it. One day, the family head's(Nedumudi Venu) nephew, Nakulan( Suresh Gopi ) along with his wife Ganga( Shobhana ), come to the village and ask whether they can liv...

Snow as white as milk was piling up all over the Hakuba valley as I woke up on the fourth and last day of the Hakuba trip. While I was getting ready for the day, I was feeling happy and sad at the same time. Happy, because I could meet my parents and get back to the usual school routine but sad, because this was going to be my last day of skiing for an entire year. Nevertheless, I firmly told myself to enjoy each and every moment to the fullest and headed downstairs to grab some breakfast along with my roommates and friends. After breakfast, which to my consternation, had been declining in quality for the past few days, we awaited our teachers to brief us on the day's events. We learnt that because our school was a six hour drive from the valley, we were to go upto our rooms straightaway and pack our suitcases. Following that, we were going to ski for two hours and then head back to the hotel; after which we would clamber onto the buses and return home.  As all of us starte...

I woke up on day three of my Hakuba trip as a teenager. It was my 13th birthday and I was feeling on top of the world!! As I was marvelling at my natural promotion from childhood to adolescense, my birthday wishes started pouring in. My room mates joyfully wished me and I thanked them with the same emotion. I then called my parents and seeked their blessings. After getting ready for the day, we headed down for breakfast. On joining the rest of my class, I recieved wishes from a lot more of my classmates. I was surprised that many of them knew it was my birthday, as I had only mentioned it to a few people. We were briefed on the day's schedule and I felt buoyant when I learnt that along with skiing, we were also going to experience avalanche training, take a maths test and experience sledding!! Knowing that a smorgasbord of fun events were going to take place, I happily trotted over to the storage room and donned my heavy boots and picked up my skis and poles. I cautiously wa...

The door was knocked on thrice as I lazily rose from my slumber. It was seven thirty in the morning and I had managed to sleep the previous night after a good deal of tossing and turning about. My friends woke up as well; and upon opening it, found one of our teachers standing outside. He wished us good morning and told us to quickly get ready as breakfast was in an hour's time. Thanking the teacher, we went back into the room and set about performing our usual morning routine. Around eight thirty, we headed down to the hotel lobby, where I greeted the rest of my classmates.   After tucking into a sumptuous breakfast, we were given a briefing of the day's events by our teachers. I was jubilant when my teachers announced that we were going to ski today!! After all, this was going to be my first experience trying the sport. Following breakfast, we headed back to our rooms where I proudly donned my ski jacket, pant, helmet, gloves and goggles. We then went down to the stor...

In this series of four posts, I am going to be writing on my amazing school trip to Hakuba , where I tried my hand at skiing for the first time. The trip commenced on 4th February and concluded on 7th February 2020. As a part of my school curriculum, every year we go for two four day trips, one each in the summer and winter. As I had a fantastic trip to Moriumius, Oshika and Kinkasan in the summer, I was eagerly looking forward to my sojourn in the winter. When I got to know that we were going to go to Hakuba, a village in the Nagano prefecture in Japan, I was on cloud 9!! Nagano is situated north west from Tokyo. Not only was I going to stay with my friends for three nights, I was also going to try skiing for the first time ever.  As the Northern Alps(one of the best mountain ranges for skiing) is situated in the Hakuba village, it is Japan's largest ski resort. We could choose between skiing and snowboarding and the reason I chose skiing was because I was thrilled b...