Wish this was Just another Hair Raising Tale! When Hair Stoop, Move Apart and then, Depart!

I have always been confident about my hair growth, always assuring myself that nothing could go possibly wrong despite my father’s genetically-transmitted disposition towards premature hair graying. This confidence stemmed from hair roots inherited from the maternal side too. We are blessed with thick hair, so dense that if you don’t comb them for a day, stray animals might peep-in to check a prospective, snug accommodation for the night. The hair growth rate was so high that during the schooling years that I visited the nearby salon with amazing regularity. These hair cutting artisans would often bitch about how unruly and demanding my hair were and that it always took them extra effort to tame the shrew that used to be my highly democratized hair—because each strand was independently shaped and positioned irrespective of my preferences. This discussion overviews my hair battles, the most recent ones being against hair thinning and breakage that has me seriously scared...

Pari – What Starts Promisingly Must End Tragically if you are a 21st Century Indian Horror Movie

Who is Pari supposed to scare,  Toddlers? 

I distinctly remember telling my wife many times recently that the Japanese horror genre is like the grand-daddy of all horror flicks these days, or almost all of them, across the world. The Ring series is just one of the many examples of how movie-makers from different corners of the world have been reusing, rather unashamedly, the Japanese way of presenting creepy people and everyday situations cooked with darkish spirits to grab the attention of audiences. Pari can be called the first bold attempt at something similar by an Indian director with a reasonably good casting couch. Remember, all those times when little Japanese girls are either trained towards or refrained from exercising their sorcery due to their cold-hearted mothers or family guardians? Pari borrows this part of the plot rather well. In fact, the first 30 minutes are rather promising. You feel the story is gripping, creating the basis for something that will lead to more-than-one sleeping issues. However, this where the mishap happens. The middle part is severely understated – there is nothing meaty enough for the viewers to bite into. The make-up effects are a disaster.

Keep Running Away with Runny Eggs

Lately, me and my sister have been individually following Eat Street. The series is essentially about exploring the food truck scene across the US, allowing viewers an inside look into what makes truck food as good, and sometimes even better, than boutique restaurants. There is something about runny eggs that is common to most of the truck food vendors. Whether it is a lunch burger or a tossed salad with chicken bits and jalapeno, adding runny eggs seems to be a common option. Influenced by this, my sister, who comes over every now and then, started making runny eggs for breakfast.

From Kejriwal to Aussie Smith, March 2018 is a Month of Surprising Apologies, Some Look Genuine, Others Outright Conceited!!

Inhaler Hero. Muffler Man. Weirdly Common. Confused

When March 2018 started rolling, we had Arvind Kejriwal apologizing to a handful of politicians whom he had intentionally and very loudly defamed as a part of his imaging exercise. To say that the guy didn’t mean to offend so many people is an absolutely ridiculous explanation. Similarly, Kejriwal’s office saying that the seemingly honest guy had to tender the apology as he did not have sufficient time to attend the court summons, is just trash. This guy used individualized vendetta, profile targeting and party-bashing as an inherent part to build-up his clout. His followers were genuinely attracted by the upfront and deliberately rude persona that Kejriwal acquired. When the Muffler Man has sufficient time to spend days in a health or wellness center, it becomes very hard to accept that he cannot find the time or hire a small team of lawyers to take care of this legal muggers.

DIY Mental Health: Using Hand Gripper for Anxiety Management

This is not some amazing discovering I chanced upon – keeping your mind, hands and feet busy is one of the oldest tips from the game called controlling your anxiety levels. However, it is not often understood. Many folks believe that anxiety levels can be controlled when you are really busy. When your mind and body are totally occupied by something that does not leave any room to obsess with thoughts that take a toll. Anxiety is something that builds-up in quite, yet-to-be-described and loud ways. One common factor along these many ways of anxiety symptoms surfacing is that you are in a state of agitation, somewhat irritated, perhaps a bit angry too and you are trying to control the thoughts to overtake your mind. You don’t want an explosion of emotions at the workplace or when driving during the rush hours. This is when some people try the easy way out, i.e. taking medicines like Valium, that slow down the thinking patterns, creating a false sense of calm.

Online Shopping Feedback: AJIO.com | First Impressions, Stay Away!

Reality Bytes: Static, Error-prone, Unreactive AJIO Shopping Cart

RAID – Does Not Attack Your Sensibilities, Neither Is It Pretentious | Worth Trying!

I have to confess that often, I tend to over-adjecti-fy the cause of criticizing something. Also, am not a big fan of singing hymns when I appreciate someone - people call me disapprovingly polarized and sometimes, I have no defense! However, when it comes to RAID, my good, bad and the ugly neurons worked in perfect tandem to watch and somewhat, admire the movie. For starters, it does not try to be a Karan Johar type of movie that shoots across global locations and dresses-up megastars with costumes, role-plays and borrowed styles that just don’t seem to sync. RAID is slightly under-cooked. This actually helps to make the movie watchable. The story isn’t something worthy of being a conversation-starter. You might find it surprising but there are no raids as such in the movie – yes, RAID is a singular in every sense. The entire plot is knitted around a few days of income tax department’s invasion. The perpetrator is Saurabh Shukla – as vile and well-groomed for this role as you can imagine. His dialogues are interspersed with just the right amount of facial expressions that oscillate from disgust to bouts of violent anger and reluctance to accept the reality.

DIY Home Repairs & Living Space Improvement Chores Using Silicone Fillers and Adhesive

It has been some time since I last explored my handyman skills using the caulking gun. This gun is very versatile and has dedicated refills that are shaped like a small missile to be loaded and used. Last time around, I was playing around with a black, sooty filler that was rather nasty to use. The adhesive-like thing was sticky and the consistency would mean more flowy nature – this made it difficult to use the filler for smaller cavities. Now, over to the latest DIY home improvement project where I assembled the supplies like a seasoned mechanic first and then started things in a more organized manner. This time, I used the same caulk gun but with a different brand of silicone filler and adhesive, both easy to work with. The spring-loaded gun takes some time to cork and un-cork but overall, it is not difficult to use. 

Lifestyle Introspection: White breads really making us fatter? Discussion in White & Black

Are all types of conventional bread that bad?

Perhaps the easiest comfort food in terms of the logistics of acquiring and buying it, a loaf of bread seems like the biggest target for lifestyle gurus and healthcare specialists with a growing echo that any and nearly all types of white bread are responsible for everything, ranging from diabetes to a possibly fatal heart attack. The organic overdose has been here for some time, and now, more and more manufacturers are labeling food to perfection, ensuring that with every carefully chosen word, they create the aura of organic or natural or at least, something better! This is the problem – anything that seems better than what you have been consuming is suddenly the trendsetter.

Myth: Bread is just empty calories! Grains have three parts: the endosperm, bran, and germ. White flour is made just from the endosperm, while whole wheat contains all three parts. And many of a grain’s nutrients are in the latter two components.

[Source: www.washingtonpost.com]

One such sorry state of affairs is seen in the white-bread landscape. Anyone and everyone who is even remotely into fitness or diet control is aware of these two, hated words - white + bread = unworthy of human consumption. Every health journal and food blog, and nearly every media resource around us seems to be preaching one thing – Don’t Eat White Bread!!

6 Strength Training Exercises Most Young Men Might be Missing!

This discussion is on Strength Training based on the data available on Mensfitness.com – Click Here to view the original discussion. The original editorial piece talks about 30 such underrated exercises but I am going to discuss the ones that I feel are most relevant. Some of these, I have been able to get going with not too many reps, some I think of returning too while some, like the extreme back-bends, might be doable by the end of this month. Now, the actual discussion:

1. Cable Pull-Through Gym Exercise: please note that am not a big fan of cable-linked exercises. Though they could be great, I could never get around all the contraption-like aura of it. This particular exercise is easy to Google. You will find lots of videos on how to do it. Invariably, this is for the lower body. The video clips are handy to understand the range of motion that seems very butt-centric.

Her Bra Strap is Showing, so why should you feel uncomfortable?

This continues to happen to me repeatedly though I realize am not doing anything wrong – every time there is a lady with her bra strap clearly showing around the neck-shoulder area, I feel this weird anxiety overcome me. It is as if my mind splits into two halves. One party says that looking at them is not wrong since I didn’t pull them out of their safe confines. The other, more vocal half keeps saying that looking at them is rude and looking at them and pretending not to be aware of their presence is even ruder! You are still lying! I think it is time I got another appointment with my shrink.

Skin Picking [Excoriation]: Stupid Addictions that Only Harm You

You might not have heard about this condition if you don’t like the psychological roleplay plots. This is a type of obsessive behavior where a person will continue to scrape away skin layers on the hands feet, along the corners of the nose and mouth and majorly on the scalp. Skin picking as a habit can reach such limits that you fully realize that the skin is being bruised to the extent of remaining inflamed throughout the day or even bleeding and even then, you cannot stop yourself.


How common is this? A lot, beyond what you can imagine but most people don’t count it as a mental health condition. 

From Childhood to Young Adult & Now Married - How Creating, Losing and Reconnecting with these Memories Makes Me Wonder about Life

Providing context for the discussion – this was during the middle school era, which now seems like the Middle Ages leading up to my current condition of just having passed the mid-life stage, and eating seemed like something I was born to do. I could eat on a budget, like a king, an African refugee or someone who needs to stuff just to get through the day. The extent of my bhukkadpann notwithstanding, it was evident that I had some room for the overall quality of fare served to me, the ambience and the dining schedule [the lack of it actually]. Invariably, this meant that on some days, I could be as fussy as a post-menopausal cat, not listening to endless calls from my folks to try something they believed was good food.

Not Another Left-handed vs Right-handed Blog: Is there a good side to your body?

Left Side Talking: As a result of IBS, I do have this unwanted tendency to get bloated every now and then, usually around the time when my dietary choices are out of control for more than a couple of days and when stress starts accumulating. During this phase, I have noticed that there are a few bodily positions that help me to exert the upper intestinal region better and vent-away the gassy build-up. This might sound repulsive and nauseous but believe me, when you are bloated and feel that heavy, anything is better than waiting for the antacids and anti-flatulence drugs to work. Seated somewhat comfortably on my left side with my elbow directly below my head, I have a much higher chance of expelling the gases and getting some quick, safe relief.

Talking Cheese: Cannot Sound Like an Expert Here!

To Cheese or Not to Cheese?

I am talking about choosing between homemade cottage cheese, the off-the-shelf cheese slices variety and legacy cheeses. There is an abundance of choices and very little clarity about what we are eating and for what reason. Yes, legacy cheeses are made by brands that have existed for decades and are known to prepare cheese with a distinguished flavour and unique aura that is often endemic to a region or a small community. On the other hand, homemade cheese is more of a comfort food that promises to provide some precious proteins too. Homemade cheeses don’t agree with a lot with my digestive system. They can make me bloated and gassy. The retail, sliced variety is easier to handle and can be easily added to any preparation.

Banish Old Driving Habits: Vehicular Acclimatization is What it Takes to Make the Most Out of Mahindra KUV 100

Image borrowed from www.motoroids.com - also, My KUV is
in Burnt Red shade - this is a Stock Image I guess!

A lot has been written, spoken and exchanged about what the Mahindra KUV 100 can and cannot do – the reasons are different for each expert or the owner. Am trying to provide one basic, very fundamental thought behind all of these since I own the model and have driven it for around 8K. The only folks who will find an issue with driving the KUV100 are people who are trying to compare it to a four-cylinder automobile. I did this mistake too. Despite the very efficient engine and the ability of the KUV to run crazy in the third gear itself, the engine is not your usual four-cylinder variety. What does this mean?

DIY Diagnosing: Sciency to Explain How Scratching Self-multiplies

Well you have to say there are some benefits of knowing a hypochondriac. Yes, I have to confess that there is something within me which has to know the exact reason for the slightest of health issues. I need a reason and logic behind every prescription. Due to this habit, every now and then, I decode answers to some everyday health issues that are usually ignored by typical health and fitness blogs. Apparently this problem is referred to as Excoriation and it can affect people of all age-groups, gender and social-economic backgrounds.

One such question is that why when you scratching one part of the body, the need to scratch more, in other places arises? Skin picking and scalp picking happen to be one of the most common types of recorded and explained obsessive behaviors recorded among men and women. Something similar is trichotillomania which is a severe form of hair pulling, sometimes to extreme that it can cause hair thinning or balding patterns to emerge...

People will not stay with YOU, neither is the expectation real #wisen-up!

Think of me as a manager who brings a team-first perspective to the workplace, every day. However good that might sound, this is not really the best approach when you are working in a setup that has constant churning of resources, the exits are quick, often impromptu, seldom unplanned and you are essentially, almost on your own when it comes to doing something for the team. It has been a handful of years at my current stint and I believe that this duration has helped me grasp one big realization – you might have the best intentions for the team but it is not really wise to expect them to reciprocate the gesture. Why? Simple – the salary-for-work environment puts everyone in a certain place.