Hey everyone! Sorry I haven’t been posting, I actually started another blog, @PrettyLittleScribbles as I am posting more lifestyle stuff there, and my regular calm, personal blog things here 🙂 This blog, however, will always have a special place in my heart, as the first blog I ever started..
I’ve decided to start this series, which is not like my regular niche, called Today’s Thoughts. It’s like a reflection, about what’s happening right now. Also, I’ve updated my home-page, to make it less, Midnight-y because, I’m also getting used to blogging with my own name, and not Midnight.
Also, we just hit 700 clicks! Yay! Back to the topic…
So, about online schooling. So, right now, school is completely digital, we’re even managing our exams online! I mean, we’re nearly 7 months into the lockdown, and that’s 7 months without going down to play, without going to tennis class, without even having lunch with your friends at school!
Maybe online school isn’t so bad, I found myself thinking, because, obviously it’s less distracting, and even our teachers are seeing an improvement in the average marks of a class. But then again, there is definitely a joy in being with your friends, and having some fun, other than it being completely inclined toward academic progress.
Also, it might be forever before we can go outside without the fear of catching the virus. I mean think about it, when will you ever go outside without a mask, and just play with your friends? That just seems light years away, now!
I guess this pandemic has put things in perspective, and I think a mix of online, and physical things is the way to go!
So, that’s it for today’s post…I hope I’ll be a lot more active when it comes to blogging now, so stay tuned for more!
Hey everyone!! It’s been a while since I blogged, but I have something fresh today! It’s kind of different from my regular niche, but I hope y’all enjoy reading it…
A while ago, we went on a lil adventure to a beautiful park by a lake. On the way, I noticed how much things had changed. Once popular shops were now all boarded up, the Mystery Rooms’ board were lopsided, collecting dust, but there were quite a few people around, just going about their daily routines…
It’s just nice, to see people going about their daily routines, but honestly, I feel that these days, the Corona virus stats are just frightening to see! And it’s saddening to see the death chart spike up nowadays. My English teacher, an amazing woman, was taken by this virus. Even teaching online, one day, she just stopped coming to class. Around three months later, just a couple days back, we received the saddening news, that she expired. She had two daughters and both were left with no one, as her husband had passed away too, due to Covid-19.
What you’d see in a newspaper!
That very day, I went on Google and researched about the Covid-19 stats. I realised, that the passing of my teacher, had caused at least a meagre amount of sadness, to whoever she’d taught. We have 500+ students in our school and even more teachers. Just imaging how much of a loss one death caused. I read the statistics. Around 1095 people died due to Corona Virus that day. In India only.
It’s just sad.
So, please, just do all you can to stay safe, be positive, stay off the news for a while and don’t panic! And if any of you’ve heard the quote, ‘This too shall pass,’ then it shall provide you a teeny bit of encouragement now. Please, don’t forget how lucky you are to be reading this, instead of in a hospital, suffering, or in a worse situation. Be supportive to each other, and some day, the favour shall be returned!
I hope you liked reading this, and thank you for reading this far!! I also hope this gave you a little something to think about! Stay tuned for more fun posts!
Hello everyone! Today I decided to write about ways to unplug, ways to rid yourself of addiction or simply ways to take a break from staring at a screen. Nevertheless, there are many reasons, or excuses to keep staring at your screen, whether it’s just that last YouTube video you want to watch, or that fact that your friend is chatting with you on Hangouts, and there is no other way to communicate with her!
Due to corona-virus, our screen time has steadily increased, as most of our day to day activities are now online. From schooling to work, to even piano classes, everything is now online! So, when we’re given a short break between our classes or work, the least we can do for our body and our eyes is use that break to move around, away from a gadget.
First, Something simple you can do, is just go out for a walk or a run. This is especially beautiful in the morning, when there are less people. If you are in a containment zone, or you deem it unfit to go outside in these times, another simple thing you can do, is just curl up with a good book, play a board game or hone your talent. It may seem boring, but think of it this way : What else will you use your time for, if you weren’t looking at an electronic device?
A beautiful garden : Even if you don’t have one, it won’t hurt to step outside, for a bit of fresh air
Next, it is very important to stay off social media. Social media, is one of the top areas online, to which you can get addicted easily. Even if you go there to check that one thing, you’re going to end up mindlessly scrolling through hundreds of photos or videos. If you’re already addicted to social media, in a way, then I suggest you take it step by step, and slowly get rid of the addiction, as early as possible. You’ll find, that even if you aren’t addicted, just going to Instagram, or Twitter and scrolling, can take up a lot of your free time.
Uninstall the apps too, if that will work.
Thirdly, set your goals for the day, and plan your day accordingly. Schedule your tasks, and leave plenty of time out to play, to have fun, and stay away from your screens, then. Even if you are stuck at home, hone the skills you already have, or have wanted to have. Take up a project, and work on it, or maybe even start a bullet journal! Planning your day will not only help prioritize, but you’ll see a significant improvement in your school, work or college.
Bullet Journaling : A beautiful way to organise your day, week month and year.
Another helpful tactic, is to shut down your device and keep it away. If it isn’t within your reach, you’ll not be as inclined to use it. You could also set your screen time limits. If you know how much time you need to spend online, if its for school or work, you can alter the time you want to spend on a device. Maybe even try meditation from Headspace or just listen to some calming music from Soothing Relaxation
These unprecedented times shall eventually pass, but we must do all we can to support those affected and to keep ourselves healthy. After you finish reading this, just close your eyes, and take a break from the screen.
I hope you enjoyed reading this post, and that it helped you. If you did, stay tuned for more fun blogs!
If you live in India, then you’ll know that today is Independence day! Usually, we’d have a big celebration, hoist the flag, sing the national anthem, and enjoy a bunch of patriotic songs, dances and plays in school or in our colony, but what do we do now? It would be really dangerous to go through with those festivities now, so I wrote a bit about our freedom struggle and the key to our freedom.
The hoisted Indian flag
Seventy four years ago, we savoured the taste of freedom after a long fought struggle. Our countrymen were united in their fight against the British and today, we honour them, narrate stories and sing paeans about their bravery. But how did the British manage to rule India for over two centuries?
One of the main reasons the British managed to colonise us, was that India was politically unstable at that time. We had many small kingdoms, which were constantly at war with each other. The East India Company, which only wanted to trade, saw the opportunity and took advantage of the fragmented state of the country. Starting with small wins in the presidencies of Madras, Bombay and Calcutta in the late eighteenth century, they slowly established a stranglehold over the entire subcontinent over the next two hundred years. They continued to turn small independent kingdoms against each other using a ‘divide and conquer’ strategy.
An auto-rickshaw – a cheap, efficient way of travel in India
In the end, when the citizens of India stood united against the British, we finally earned our freedom! We have stayed united as a country for seventy four years even during unprecedented times like the India – Pakistan wars and our conflicts with China. Today is a day to look back and feel proud of everything we’ve accomplished as a country, cherish it and take a vow to work hard to preserve our freedom for many years to come.
India has a rich and diverse heritage. Our strength likes in the differences in our languages, cuisine, culture, festivals and natural beauty. The fabric of national integration is woven with many different threads, each representing a strand of our diversity. The power of unity has been shown throughout our struggle for freedom, helping us gain independence. I urge all my fellow Indians to join hands and remain united now and forever.
Well, that’s it for this post and I hope that it instilled a bit of patriotism in you! Stay tuned for more fun blog posts!
Every day, every hour, every minute, every second seems to be the same. With the whole world locked up at home, the deserted, desolate streets are home only to dust and dirt. At least, that is what we think.
We are too scared to step out of the house without our face enclosed in a mask and our hands sanitised. We maintain distance with even our closest friends. The grocery store delivers essentials directly to our doorstep and even then we sanitise perishables before consumption.
While human beings sit bored at home, hoarding food and supplies there is something that is thriving. Something whose existence began long before ours. Something that is now free, unhurt by our problems. Something we depend on, yet destroy…
Nature, without human annihilation, is flourishing. Be it the verdant foliage blanketing our nation or the diverse species of fauna that populate our states, the natural environment is blossoming. The skies have cleared and the massive Himalayas can be viewed from Punjab, India.
A few decades ago large antelope were pretty common in Noida, Uttar Pradesh. Not very long ago this city gave way to industrialization and the city was enveloped in smoke and noisy drivers. With the roads barren, an Asian antelope was spotted trotting down one of the busiest streets in Noida.
A beautiful Antelope
One of the most beautiful birds of India is the peacock. Its colourful plumage gives it an exquisite look and they are also rare in the metropolitan city of Mumbai. Not very long ago these elegant birds were spotted in Mumbai which is now under complete lockdown due to the rise of cases in the pandemic.
All over the world, such beautiful sightings have occurred and it just shows that when humans suffer nature is at large, and vice versa. The cleanliness of the rivers is rising due to the reduction of industrial waste being dumped into it. Trees are growing taller and larger with less need to cut them down. Erosion of soil is also reducing due to the strong roots of the trees holding it together.
This virus has created a domino effect that is restoring nature’s beauty. We can keep it this way. Over the years we have learnt that nature is volatile. Nature can thrive in the tiniest of places, without water, in water and even with the help of one another. Nature should be able to thrive after this pandemic too, when our lives are back to normal.
Instead of destroying nature let us try to live beside it. Let’s be one with nature and enjoy its beauty. Life in the lockdown can be looked upon in two ways. It could be a curse or an opportunity we must utilise. We humans must make use of this second chance given to us and prosper along with nature.
No one knows when we will be free to leave our homes without being intimidated by the thought of the pandemic but now is the time we must start being in harmony with nature. With that thought, I’m signing off in the hope you enjoyed this post. Stay tuned for more fun posts!
Hey everyone! I know it’s been a few days since the closing of Wanderer’s Writings, but here’s a new post for you to read right now! It is pretty hard for tweens to find good books to read, as I’ve noticed, as either they are a bit too kiddish, or they are too grown – up. Well today I’m going to mention 3 series’ that I absolutely loved reading, and aren’t very well known!
1. A Series of Unfortunate Events
This is a wonderful series of thirteen books chronicling the unhappy the lives of the three Baudelaire children. The series starts off well enough, with the three clever and rich Baudelaire siblings, Violet, Klaus and Sunny, enjoying themselves on Briny Beach, until Mr. Poe from the bank comes over and tells them their parents had perished in a fire that destroyed their home. From then, the story goes downhill, as the antagonist, Count Olaf enters the tale. He is a ruthlessly ambitious villain, and will stop at nothing, to get his hands on the Baudelaire orphans’ fortune. He tails them wherever they go, killing their guardians, one by one, disguising himself as different people and hatching evil plots all through. The author, Lemony Snicket a.k.a, Daniel Handler, encourages us to put the book down, and stop reading he books, as in every chapter, when things seem good, Count Olaf’s always there to turn things around!
There’s a Netflix series as well as a movie and both are worth watching! Here are 5 of the 13 books.
2. Lost in Europe series
These are five books all written by Cindy Callaghan and revolve around the lives of different girls. In the books these girls travel to different countries in Europe and encounter a little adventure on their way! These books filled with travel, adventure and exciting events as the girls solve each situation. For example, in Lost in Ireland, superstitious Meg receives a chain letter, and emails it on, instead of posting it, only to find out that that’s bad luck! Meg travels all the way to Ireland to find the original sender of the chain letter and fix her bad luck before things get even worse! I also recommend reading her other titles, such as Just add magic and its sequel.
Just add Magic been made into a very popular Amazon original series too!
3. The Time Quintet
This is a sci-fi series of five lovely books by Madeleine L’engle, about the fifth dimension of time. At times the book may seem slightly hard to follow, but read on, because it’s worth it! Meg Murry along with her brother Charles Wallace and her friend Calvin are on a mission to save her father who was experimenting with travel through dimensions of time! Led by three mysterious women, Mrs. Whatsit, Mrs. Who and Mrs. Which, they travel to different planets and encounter many odd and supernatural beings on their long journey.
This amazing series has been made into a movie which I do recommend watching too!
Well, that’s it for this post, and thanks for reading! I do hope you enjoy these titles and stay tuned for my next post! Don’t ever forget that,
The more that you read, the more things that you will know. The more that you know, the more places you’ll go!
Hey everyone! I can’t believe it’s my 5th post in this series already! Well I’m really enjoying it, and can’t wait to write more! So, the next day, we journeyed to the Derinkuyu underground city, more rock caves, yes! But these were underground! The people who lived here,had different underground rooms. It was also pretty scary, as around the corners, there were large stones, which, if moved could lock you in the room!
The passage, and the large rock on the side!
My father discovered his claustrophobia here, and so, I know that these caves aren’t suitable for anyone who has claustrophobia. It is cold down there so you need to bring a sweatshirt just in case. The beginning of the caves, was a large hall – like structure, and then, the caves narrowed down into thin passageways. It was really easy to lose your way, down there so a guide was a must. This city was discovered only in 1963, by accident, when a man knocked down his basement wall, finding a hidden room!
The whole area was then excavated, and there was room for around 20,000 people! Obviously, these caves were created to protect thee people from either war, or maybe even some sort of natural disasters. They seem to have provided for themselves very well, with narrow tunnels connecting bigger rooms, that could have been churches or schools, in the Byzantine era. There were deep wells for water, too!
So, through the tunnels, spiraled rows or thick stone stairs, which were really hard to climb all through, and even if you aren’t claustrophobic, it could be pretty creepy, in thee narrower parts. Sometimes, when you going through a tunnel, a group of other tourists would bump into you from the other side! We’d somehow made it to the end of the tour, and it was really exciting!
This will be my last Wanderer’s Writings post, for a while, but do stay tuned, for something really exciting is in store!
Hey everyone! Let’s pick up where we left of in my last post, we had just finished a quick lunch and we were on our way to a beautiful trek : in Red and Rose valley! Now, this valley is supposed to have an epic sunset, so we set off just in time to see it. We reached the start of the trail in the late afternoon, so we began at around 4:00 pm.
The beauty of this valley, is that there are many Fairy chimneys and pretty rock structures, but in this area, they are splashed with hues of pink, orange and yellow all over! In some places there are stripes, in some it is layered, but the combinations are always so pretty!
We began the scenic trek after a driver dropped us off at the base. Along the way, a little street puppy accompanied us! It was a cross between a few breeds, but it looked like a beagle and it followed us all through the trek. We started off fine and the views were beautiful. At a particular point, we were completely surrounded by the red, yellow and orange striped mountains, and it just looked awesome!
The valley. There were many other colours too!
We enjoyed the hike up, but got a little hungry, halfway through. So, we took a little break at an inn and helped ourselves to some lemonade and orange juice. We continued our journey and then, reached the peak! It was an amazing experience and we did see a few balloons floating above us.
After enjoying the sunset, we drove back to the hotel, rather than trek in the dark! That evening, we had some ready-made noodles, which we just had to boil. It was really fun to sit out in the cold night, with just a bowl of warm noodles, looking up at the stars.
Well, I’ll continue our journey tomorrow, when we went to the Underground caves!
Hey everyone! This is my third post of Wanderer’s Writings, about my trip to Turkey. As I mentioned in my previous post, today I’ll be blogging about the ride in a hot-air balloon which happened to be on my birthday!!
To ride in the balloon, you’d have to organise in with a proper agency at the earliest, because these rides were always completely full! There weren’t even waiting lines! You’d have to book your tickets at least a couple months in advance. So, we’d booked our tickets with an agency and a few days before they gave some rules and guidelines. One thing that stood out on the list was that the bus would pick us up at 5.30!
So, we reached the Hot-air balloon camp at around 6.00 am, and at first, went to a large hall at the far corner of the large ground. There, we had some snacks and some hot cocoa to warm us up, and then we assembled by our tour’s booth and waited to be driven to the balloon.
In a few minutes, a member of the agency came and drove us to the balloon’s camp. We watched the balloons being attached to the baskets on the floor. Then they placed some flammable equipment beneath the balloon and slowly we watched it light up. At around the same time balloons all over the area began lighting up! It was such a beautiful sight, and at the crack of dawn too! A large team of people surrounded each balloon and then tied it down to thee ground from each side, so it wouldn’t float.
The scene : people and balloons!!
Then, all the visitors were told to climb aboard one by one. We stood up in baskets, and you could only see outside if you were slightly taller. I guess that’s why they didn’t allow children below a certain age on board. Well, I was already very excited, standing up in the balloon. I glanced up at the sky where another balloon was slowly wobbling up into the sky. We were going to be there soon! I watched them untie the ropes, and slowly but steadily, our balloon began to rise!
If you’ve read my previous post, you’ll know that Cappadocia is famous for its fairy chimneys which look something like this.
Up , up and away!
So, the view of the fairy chimneys from above was just amazing! Besides being one of the few places that offer hot air balloon riding, Cappadocia also has a good reason for it. On the ground, we can enjoy the insides of these rock caves, and from above we enjoy their beauty as they lay in the valley that we were hovering above For an hour we enjoyed the aerial view of the beautiful rock caves, or fairy chimneys, and slowly, the sun began to rise. We touched down to the ground and got off the balloon, which was now slightly lopsided and got together in a group, our tour guide facing us. The adults enjoyed a champagne toast while I watched them pop open the corks.
Then, out of the blue, a few other members of the crew brought in a large chocolate pastry and brought it to me, wishing me a loud ‘Happy Birthday!” This was my birthday surprise, I thought, blowing out the candles with a wide smile on my face. The cake, which had a rich chocolate coating, was delicious, and we shared it with the small group of people. Not only was this a lovely birthday, it was also a lovely experience, one I shall treasure for the rest of my life.
We went back to the hotel, then, and had a short brunch, before leaving to a beautiful place (full of fairy chimneys!) called Devrent valley. It was full of Fairy chimneys, but guess why we stayed there a little longer? Because of the shape of the chimneys! They are very creatively shaped, some look like animals and some look like scenes from the bible! It’s just like, when you’re looking at clouds and you can’t decide whether you’re seeing a dragon or a panda. Then, the clouds just seem to rearrange shape, and, all of a sudden, you’re looking at an eye! This optical illusion is a pretty good exapmle of thee rock’s structure.
Is it a duck? Or a rabbit?
Well, after we stopped .by this stone ‘zoo,’ we drove to a restaurant for lunch and hurried on, because, this next stop was really interesting!
So, I’ll continue this trip in my next post : ‘Wanderer’s Writings #4,’ but stay tuned because it’s going to be exciting!!
The Midnight Journal 