Indu Prasad

Humans go through the life span of butterflies over and over again in our life.

How many times do we go back to our shells, or at least yearn to get back to it? Numerous - as far as my thoughts could take me.

Its just not about breaking the shell that matters; but emerging as a beautiful butterfly is.

Wiggling those wings, and up in the air it goes.... Looking back to that shell which helped it be that beautifully winged creature, from a mere worm; no thank you notes will be enough to convey that feeling.

When I was a child, books weren't just something you picked up. They were scarce. There was a library I could go to, rent a book, read it, return it. That was the access I had. The magazines that came home were the main sources of happiness for me - Balarama and Balamangalam were those little pages of joy that no kids will understand today. And later, Reader's Digest, which I absolutely loved. Little magazines that I waited for.

Novels were big books. The kind that stayed at the library because ownership wasn't an option from where I was coming from. There were other priorities too. Getting story books were a luxury which could wait.

So reading, for me, wasn't given. It was something I developed in the gaps. In the scarcity.

I knew I wanted different for my son.

Not different as in "he should be a reader." Just different as in reading shouldn't be a struggle neither should it be something that was optional amidst all the online distractions that steals our time away.

So we started small. It was always tiny stories before bed, of course with sound and actions and shadow play. Then came the bedtime reading sessions, started with something like Kalikkudukka, Toot magazine etc. Nothing heavy or enforced. Just consistent. 

Every night, there was something to read. No grades. No test. Just the habit of sitting down with a story. Something he looked up to.

And then he progressed. From picture books to chapter books. From magazines to short stories. And from there to series. From what I gave him to what he chose himself. It happened naturally as reading was already woven into his day. It was just a thing we did - together.

By the time he was ten, he was reading religiously. Every night before bed, that was his time. Bedtime always came with a 30 minute buffer for reading time, with the books he picked. Stories that mattered to him. And I watched it pay off. His vocabulary was naturally expanding. His writing got sharper. His ability to understand complex ideas in his studies improved. None of these were foreseen or planned. Just a result of reading, consistently, without pressure.

Now, this is what I think about reading habits, they're built in the small moments, not in the big ones - the one that goes "I am gonna make my child an ardent reader"; No. It is about making them fall in love with the world of stories and the joy of having a world of their own in their imagination.

It's not always about buying the right books or finding a perfect reading program. It's just about making it so easy, so normal, and pressure-free that kids just do it while enjoying it. Just because it's there. And they know that it's part of the evening. And because no one's grading them on it.

If you ask me, reading should be a part of our curriculum. Not because it's good for them. Not for the vocabulary or the grades or because it looks good on a resume. They should read because reading is how you come across different worlds, different people, different ways of thinking, widen their imagination. And the only way that becomes a habit is if nobody makes it feel like homework. But even now, it is not a part of our Indian curriculum which is a sad reality.

Make it available. Make it consistent. Make it pressure-free.

And then get out of the way.

The Pressure to have a Personal Brand (And why it is making us weird)

I work in social media. I think about content for a living. So, it might sound strange when I say this -

The pressure to have a personal brand is making us a little weird.

Somewhere along the way, living stopped being enough. Now you have to document it, caption it, post it. Make sure it says something about who you are. You have to have a brand.

I've caught myself in it too. You're somewhere genuinely lovely, having a genuinely good time, and the thought creeps in - should I be filming this? Not to remember it. To post it.

That's a strange place to have arrived at.

The personal branding advice didn't start out bad. It made sense — be clear about who you are, what you stand for, so the right people can find you. Reasonable enough.

But it mutated. It stopped being career advice and became something you owe the world. Not just professionals. Everyone. Optimising themselves. Quietly asking whether this moment, this opinion, this version of themselves is on-brand.

Nobody talks about the subtler cost. When you start seeing life through the lens of content, you stop being fully inside it. You're at your kid's birthday and part of your brain is already composing the caption. You achieve something that matters and your first instinct is to announce it - not to show off, but because the announcement has started to feel like part of completing the experience.

That one hit me hard when I realised it.

I've started asking myself a different question before I post anything.

Not - is this on brand?

But - do I actually mean this?

The people I find myself coming back to online aren't the most consistent ones. They're the ones who disappear for weeks and come back without apologising. Who post when they have something to say and go quiet when they don't. Who have a clear point of view without trying to be everything to everyone.

That's the version worth building. Not a content strategy dressed up as a personality.

Just you. When you actually mean it.

Even in this digital era we relate identity thieves mostly to be someone or something that we see in the movies. But the sad reality is that it is happening everywhere and Facebook seems to be the easiest for them, as every second person in the world is on the book. 

Of late, posts about accounts getting hacked are doing the rounds, which is quite worrisome. Please think twice before accepting a second friend request from any person in your friends list including myself to any social media platforms, as it could be just a trap and you'll never know it.

While revisiting the events from an year back, the shock is still fresh in my mind when the entire world was shook after getting to witness the Beirut blast which wiped off the port and buildings to a few kilometer radius. 

People who were getting on with their daily lives, those who were excited to start their new lives, parents awaiting their newborn's arrival; at least a few of them were homeless in a few minutes of time. 

What is more upsetting is the fact that this could've been avoided had the government have taken appropriate action at the right time, over the years. But alas! 

Corruption won and countless people lost their lives. Which makes me ponder on the subject of a similar situation here in our land. 

Our very own (or may be not) Mullaperiyar Dam. Needless to say that each political party that comes to power consciously forget about this sword of Damocles hanging upon our heads. Since the last few years, Kerala had been witnessing natural disasters one after the other like never before.

The Supreme court did come to a conclusion that the dam is strong after hearing from experts. But my small brain is asking me, why no alternative solution could be set in motion to avoid something horrible in future? Heard about contingency plans?

Being a citizen of India and a resident of Kerala, I would like to know why are the political leaders and even the honorable court acting as if this is such an issue with no solution other than letting TN have its way.

The dam is well over 100 years old. Last year the world also witnessed China's Three Gorges Dam barely holding up water to the brim and was on the verge of collapse due to the extreme downpour. 

Considering the current climatic conditions in Kerala, one can do nothing but wonder how things could turn out. Have read something about having an emergency action plan in hazardous situations for large dams. Like seriously!!!

What can an emergency action plan do if a huge dam of massive water level is about to come down on you. Protect lives they say... 

What about the areas that are under the threat of being wiped out? 

We have come a loooong way since the dam was commissioned. We got Independence, vehicles are plenty, even classes have become online, which were not the case back then. So is it not right to wonder why there seems to be no way out of the contract made by the then King? 

Have we not amended the constitution since the time it was drafted? Have we not amended the laws and bylaws since the time those were commissioned? 

Why, Oh! Why? 

Please enlighten me...

I am a freelance Writer and Social Media Manager based in Kerala, India. You can follow me on social media with the links below.