Shweta R Manian

  captured by - @shwetarmanian It was January 2017. The year had started off quite well; at least  until that month. It was just after the new year craze had slowly started to tone down and now everyone was waiting for the Pongal holidays. Unlike my school in Delhi where we would barely get a day of holiday, Pongal here is an extravaganza so you can expect people to disappear for almost a whole week. Everyone was packing their stuff (and by stuff, I mean all the laundry that they were too lazy to wash) with the contentment of not having to look at the campus for the next few days. I was as usual seriously planning to get new movies and series to binge watch even though I was sure I would end up watching the same stuff on repeat. Even though none of us morons are good with expressing emotions, I definitely do miss my family and home, especially at these times. Not that I am that much of help anyways but still some part of me wanted to be home because of how much I used to annoy my par

Travelling with Asian families is a whole different experience which in my opinion,   everyone needs to go through. Especially if the ‘family’ is Indian.  Travelling with Indian families will really help you know your survival skills and patience. Also, none of the family trips are complete without having at least one religious place in the ‘must visit’ list. In fact, religious places are the only trips most of us ever got to have as children and teenagers (even, as adults sometimes).  As exaggerating and dramatic as it sounds, it’s still a memorable experience depending upon the perspective you see it from, especially if you are more into exploring the diverse culture of devotees, streets and history of the place rather than “oh! Ok now that I have fulfilled my religious duty , let’s keep moving.” Kind.  And trust me, this happens; every time.  So I am sharing a few of my throwback trips which I really got to enjoy and cherish.  But the starting of this trip itself was an adventure on

  source: google images During our teenage years, we would have come across this phrase a lot and most of us actually would have actually felt good hearing this; even I did at some point. But once we got a taste of the real world in our adulthood, a lot of us realized how toxic and cringe this is. To put it in simple words, this phenomenon goes against the stereotypes that are considered feminine by the society (mostly heterosexual men) - makeup, fashion, fitness and so on. Some of us girls who don’t fit into this so called stereotype try to separate ourselves from the rest of the female population and hence consider ourselves “Not Like Other Girls”. Nowadays, this is what you call being ‘quirky’. As much as we loved this trend in the beginning and used to think we were cool for not being ‘girly’, this trend has hidden internalized misogyny all over it. Considering yourself more cool and 'swag' for not putting on make-up while attacking other women for doing the same and th

Following my previous blog "MEGHALAYA : THE ABODE OF CLOUDS" dated August 12, here is a vlog where I have combined the moments that I could capture my best during the trip. Throughout editing this video, I hav somehow found a newfound respect for all the cinematographers and editors because oh my God this is more tedious than it looks. How they are able to curate such videos and documentariesand also making sure the video doesn't lose its essence and authenticity is beyond my understanding. Do watch this video and let me know your thoughts and suggestions. I will try my best to remove the watermark next time. Once again thank you for reading. youtube video link -  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=McgD30hpZzQ Youtube channel -  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIX5-uIUho2tzMSXnvrqzRg

Hey All,  Thanks for coming here and  Welcome to another blog where I share my stories through my perspective. Once again I thank Venkat Uncle ( https://www.blogger.com/profile/00203564361517978433)   for featuring this blog and for giving me the support and encouragement I needed.

Even though there are times we prefer alone or 'me' time while going out to relax, sometimes we just need people with same vibe or energy to hangout or explore new places, especially if you are too lazy to get out of the house on your own. And I was glad I found the right kind of people to chill with. late, but still glad. And that is exactly how we found out about 'HOGWARTS KAFE'. This place is definitely a must visit for all the potterheads or anyone who is into nice and quirky ambience of a restaurant. The one we went to was in a much quiet street in Ashok Vihar, New Delhi Even though it looked small and compact from the outside, the interiors gave us quite the opposite impression. Every decoration was creatively done to bring the Harry Potter / Hogwarts aesthetic. For someone who loves cafes with difference ambience/aesthetic, we sure found this place really cool. I had the honor of sitting besides the one and only "Professor Albus Dumbledore" (it was a wa

  Just this morning, I got to know through one of my friends about the passing away of  photojournalist Danish Siddiqui in the line of duty. I didn't exactly remember who he was until I saw one his photographs covering the Covid-19 phase and the Delhi Anti-CAA riots in New Delhi, India and recognized quickly.  His photographs delivered a devastating impact with an unspeakable language. His Images were beautiful (not in a good way) and grotesque, capable of making anyone numb and emotional. He tried showing us a struggling side of humanity that many of us ignored and still continue to do so. He showed us a dystopian reality that unfortunately, we are moving towards. When we were all worried about whether we will be able to continue with the postponed trip or attend that friend's wedding or how badly we wanted to this pandemic to end while sitting under concrete, air-conditioned roofs and scrolling through our smartphones, his photographs crushed all the privilege and ignorance l