We came back feeling sick. ‘Now that you know you’re Joy, I can help you transform into a god. Give me
your hand.’
I suddenly grew into the same height as my sister. All of a sudden, I smelt flowers, home, joy and
everything related to me. ‘That’s the burden of our god form,’ Luck said. ‘We have to resist the call of
The Shimmer. It finds our weak spots and attacks them, beckoning us to it. Your weakest spots are Joy
and home, because you’re attached to those in many ways. My weakest spots are Luck and Moral,
because I’m attached to dad in many ways.’
I loved being a god so much, I barely heard her. Extraordinary power. The big cheese. ‘No, you’re not the
big cheese. Yes, I can read your mind. Gods can read other people’s minds. Try reaching into my mind
now.’
She was thinking about her husband, Fortune. I told her that. ‘Yeah. I’m worried about him. Without his
prophecies, he’ll have nothing to do. If we gods get bored, we’re so hyper to do something that we get
bored of getting bored. And when that happens, we can literally combust.’
‘Oh.’
‘Now, get out. We’ve landed.’
I got out to find that we were in a place different from Melbourne. With large, high-raise buildings and
beautiful trees, it looked magnificent. ‘Welcome to the Big Apple, brother.’
‘Why are we here?’
‘This,’ she said, ‘was the last place our dear grandmother was seen.’
Our grandmother. The idea of Evil becoming grandmother to me sounded absurd. ‘Let’s go.’
‘To where? “Oh, Mr. Shopkeeper, have you seen my grandmother, who is Evil and is hastening to bring
Doomsday up and about?”’
‘Very funny. We’re going to Evil’s house.’
‘What?’
‘We have to set her up with a bait, Joy. She’ll know it’s her killer under a camouflage, and she’ll hasten
to kill you- upon which I’ll kill her.’
I’d like to say everything went fine. You’d figure we delayed Doomsday and went to play PlayStations
happily for once. But nope. We went. Up till the ‘bait’ part everything worked fine. Right when Luck
manifested to kill her, Evil sensed another presence and swung her sword in a deadly arc, decapitating
Luck.
‘No!’
I collapsed in a pile of tears. Battling my way to the door, I barely escaped. And here I was,
trudging along towards number 12, Battalion Street, Melbourne. I figured that my sister, being
immortal, would manifest again. But the power of Evil’s sword… I didn’t know if I’d see her again. On my
way back, I attracted some stares, being the ten-feet-tall monster I was. I wanted to pummel my Mom
and Dad for not telling me sooner, not coming to my aid.
Grief and tiredness overwhelmed me, and I
collapsed in the sand.
The lights switched on for the very first time; we became both the object and creator of our worldview. Our view of the world and the understanding of everything is formulated by our consciousness in a reflexive continual feedback loop.
So, the world exists behind a sheathe of non-objectivism -- this doesn't mean that the physical world is a mere extension of the mind or it doesn't exist outside of consciousness but rather, the world we experience does not. We can’t see things as they are because we are compelled by a necessity of nature to see things as we are, and are forever constricted to the system of perception our mind allows-- which is known as the egocentric predicament. If you and I look at the leaves of a tree, we might both say that they are “green.” Although we may both agree we are seeing green we are actually seeing the qualia of what we call green. But could it be that you see them as green, while I see them as a colour closer to your brown, or possibly even your purple. For a colour-blind individual would they really be wrong if they said the colour they see isn't green and if they did agree they would do so only out of a sense of willingness to sacrifice the truth of what they see to what the majority of the people see. What if the leaves were in reality a different colour that humans can't even comprehend let alone perceive?
Wouldn’t we all be just as correct or incorrect as the colour-blind individual who claims it isn't? What if all of a sudden we could identify colours in a different wavelength of light? We would agree that the leaves we see are not green, and the people who say it is are incorrect when the leaves in themselves never changed. If all human 'truths' are of agreements on shared subjective experiences which are all limited by human perception, and we build all ideas on an unstable foundation constantly changing we would never know if we could ever be able to reach objective truth or if it even exists. Maybe all the above mentioned ideas are completely wrong and contradict everything you believe to be true but ironically that supports the main point here. Perhaps we should just accept all subjective truths often enough and embrace often being wrong.
WHO DID IT?
(based on an idea by Tinkle Digest)
“Mr Patel, thank you for coming here this evening. I have a problem I want to discuss with you.”
“Sure, Mrs. Lakshmi. What is it?”
“So I was teaching the class. I gave each student a few pictures, and they had to write captions under each, with a maximum of 20 characters. I went out of the classroom as another teacher called me, and I came back to the classroom, to find my precious globe, worth more than ten thousand rupees, smashed to the ground!
None of the students admitted to the mischief, or give any hint to who did it.”
“May I see the captions?”
“Sure. Here they are.”
“Hmm. Only one student’s work is odd, with very short captions.”
Indeed it was. Under a picture of a hot day, Prakriti had written “Noon”, under a picture of a bad math exam paper she had written “Repaper” and under a picture of a teacher teaching a class she had written “Ma’am”.
“Do you think it is her, Mrs. Lakshmi? She might have written short captions so she could finish faster and do the mischief.”
“I think not, Mr. Patel. She is one of the best in my class, in both terms of the subject and behaviour.”
“Hmm. Can I see a list of the students’ names then?”
“Sure.”
The list had the following names: Aditya, Anjali, Bharat, Dinesh, Gayathri, Harshita, Kanak, Mohan, Prakriti, Rajesh, Tara, Tarun and Yogesh.
“I got the perpetrator’s name!” said Mr. Patel.
Who was it?
Mail your answer(s) and the reason to
The first correct answer will be featured in the next edition.
Answers for the previous edition:
Rebuses:
Top secret
Once in my life
Read in between lines
Unscramble:
Seashore
Spring potato
Ice gola
Seashells
sandy
First entry:
Sansskrithi
Colourful butterfly on a moody day
Favourite song heard from far away
Baby's kiss when work is a mess
Surprise party that feels a bless
Setting out to clean the room
Finding hidden stash at a boom
Secret crush notices you
Dream turns finally true
Compliment on your attire
Beaming pride when you retire
Flowers when totally down
Smiles that wipe away your frown
First time riding the bicycle without support
Finding a colleague with good rapport
First salary credited
First poem unedited
New movie on week off
Team wins the play off
Waterfalls down the rocky walls
Window shopping at the malls
Walk in the mist on a chilly hill
Best moments come without a bill
But let me give you a little remind
Happiness is a state of mind
Decision to be merry at all times
Makes life better zillion times
Will someone bring in joy?
Just stay happy ahoy
Chilli is considered to be hot but if you take the last ‘I’ away from it it's chill which the opposite of hot. That made no sense at all whatsoever.
So one day, I pressed this little button at the side of the fridge door and apparently fridge lights turn off. Was I supposed to know that-
Dreams are basically custom made movies for you and your handwriting is a custom made font.
Dogs pee loudly to show dominance, humans in public bathrooms pee as quite as possible because we’re all shy to let other people we pee. Just an observation-
Galileo sounds like Lil Leo said “gah”. That's the dumbest thing I've thought of today, yet it makes so much sense in my head.
Water on Earth was originally ice from rocks that smashed into Earth, so the entire time, we’ve been using the same water. And if you think about it, we never buy water, we only pay rent to borrow it.
We never get hotter or colder we’re just giving or taking heat. Just like energy, the amount of energy in the universe never changes, it just transforms into different types.
If every job needed experience, soon, we would all be jobless.
Every time I look back about 2 years I always question if I even had a brain then- just me?
Take a moment to appreciate everything’s unique tastes, scents, view, feel and sound. Even the so called “tasteless” things in life. Like water, it has a taste, I can tell purified water apart from toilet water- what I mean to say is everything has a taste. Some things that we don’t notice too, like we always have the taste of saliva in our mouth to the point where we don’t really notice its taste.
Once had a person ask me “Oh, you like pi? Name every digit.” I have weird friends.
What happens to poison when it expires? Does it get more poisonous or does it lose its potency?
Textbook sentences are complicated. As in they use big words in every sentence, what even is the point of that. What is the point of synonyms? Just to sound fancier? Why say 'Fascinating' when you can say 'Very interesting'? Just use words everyone can understand, if we all did that, we could save so much time.
There’s a dog hair on my keyboard right now. That was random. plot twist I don’t have a dog Speaking of dogs apparently their body temperature is a little higher than ours. That wasn't even the point of what I was going to say- If you have a pet cat or dog or fish or snake, idk what pets you have. But almost all of them live far lesser than humans unless you have a turtle I guess, and that's sad. Go give them a hug.
So one of my friends pointed out that 'oK' looks like a stick man when you tilt your head to the left, at first I didn’t notice it but now I can’t un-see it and I randomly think of it every once in a while so I have to put it in here. Now you have it stuck in your head too, you're welcome.
Santa and Satan have the same words but switched around. Evil and live, devil and lived too. Enjoy that information.
So you listened to that one favourite song of yours.
Or was it the playlist that always made you feel better? Maybe you caught a glimpse of the name of that obscure song whose name you couldn’t remember no matter how you tried.
But ultimately, it all ended with you stuck with a tune in your head for the rest of the day.
And no matter what you tried to do, you couldn’t get it out.
Music has become more or less an integral part of our lives, something that often defines us.
And the more we listen, the more we’re used to the feeling of a song stuck in our heads.
And science can answer that, with one single word- earworms.
Now, don’t panic. Earworms aren’t literally worms, but instead phrases, songs or tunes, stuck in the back of our heads.
In normal cases, these earworms last for a day- a mere 24 hours.
They are mostly neutral, and in some cases, even pleasing to hear. They aren’t generally considered dangerous.
This happens when our brains are stressed out, and it sticks to a particular thought or idea that seems to repeat itself. This is how an earworm occurs.
However, scientists believe that chewing on a stick of gum for four minutes can drive earworms out.
Astoundingly, 98% of people in the world have experienced earworms at least once in their life.
Music is incredibly influential over people, and is scientifically proven that it has a positive effect over depression.
And earworms are one of the odd wonders that music can stimulate.
Ha-ha, we’re in the Sun, very funny
Leo burst out laughing. “T…The S…Sun? I…its core? Yeah, we’re totally in it right? This totally feels like 15 million degrees!” laughed Leo, thinking it was a joke. I didn’t.
Reylia sighed. “They always find it funny, don’t they?”
“Of course! Don’t you know people are supposed to laugh when a joke is told?”
“She isn’t joking, doofus. I waited for years, and all I get is this?” Said Amber, to Reylia.
“Amber is right.” Said Arbeal. “We indeed are in the Sun’s core.
“But how come we haven’t died from the heat yet?” I said.
“Ah, the history of The Second Earth.” Said Amethius.
“The Second Earth?” Said Leo and I, in unison.
“It goes like this…” said Amethius.
“Our base was originally on Earth. But then our borders were crossed by somebody once. Thankfully that person left before finding about us. This, by the way, happened millennia ago. So, then we created another base secretly, far from the planets. We figured a way to teleport ourself to the exact middle of the Sun, with a force field made by Arbeal, which protected us. I then summoned a few servant spirits, and made raw materials. You will learn more about this later. Arbeal then turned these materials into proper materials, Reylia manipulated the servants into helping us and they first built the cave where you first met us. As years passed, the force field grew, and more rooms and places were made by us. Now the Second Earth has reached its peak, and outside the door, you see grasslands, hills and many other places made with the same elements as Earth. Hence the name.”
“Whoa! How did you three manage to do it?” I said, still astonished by the fact that outside this place, it was fiery and 15 million degrees outside. “And what’s the deal with the jelly-wall room?” said Leo, who had surprisingly kept quiet the whole time.
“To answer your question, Duncan, it’s a safety room, where we go if we are attacked and defenceless. These “jelly walls” actually provide more protection than you think. And for yours, Rodriguez, like I said, we were blessed with powers. Arbeal can control the Elements on a much larger scale than the other wizards can. I can create all of nature’s plants and even more I never knew existed. Reylia has immense strength, can even lend strength to others, and also if she concentrates enough, can will objects to do anything.”
“Wow! Why would you even need defence systems then?”
“Because most enemies are not as easy to defeat as you think!”
“True. I’ve seen most of them, so you two idiots better not go near them. Got it, little babies?” Said Amber in a baby voice, who was getting irritating.
“Shut up. Anyway, can we go out and explore yet, Arbeal?” Said Leo.
“Sure. Here, take this map.”
“Ew, who still uses maps?”
“So you want to get lost- “
“Fine, fine, we’ll take it.”
The map had the Base in the middle, surrounded by grasslands and small hills (very small, you can climb them in a few minutes), and Lake Calm at one side, with a forest at the side opposite to our base. We were told not to go into the forest, as it had monsters for training, and we hadn’t begun it yet. Here and there, there were small shelters scattered around the area, for emergencies. I counted 6, labelled A through F.
We went outside the door.
It was simply stunning, beautiful, mysterious and like a movie all at the same time.
We went around the small hills, which had many beautiful flower bushes growing on them. It looked like the first stage of sunset, the sky having both blue and pink colours, with no sun (obviously, we were IN it). After some time, we went back to the Base, and it was time to begin our training.
We all had to go to separate rooms for our learning.
Arbeal told me all about the Four Elements: They were Fire, Ice, Wind, and Electricity. Amber had a long backstory she told us, and Leo had an eventful day of learning too.
There was once a normal fly flying through the darkness of the sky.
It needed some warmth and light and was looking for a source. It then came upon a group of campers who were all seated around a fire. The fly saw the relaxed and happy faces of the campers and wanted to experience this strange feeling.
It then tried to touch the fire with his wings but it kept getting singed. So it tried to touch the roaring flames with its backside. It suddenly felt a feeling but it was not happiness. It was agony!
The fly shot into the sky, took some deep breaths and looked at his back. But what a wonder of wonders! The back was emitting light and the fly’s chillness had also gone. The fly happily zipped off into the night and this was how the first firefly came to be.
1. I wake up early in the morning and witness the sunrise from the terrace. Somehow, the rising sun seems to uplift me, and I feel rejuvenated. I rush back down and gulp down a glass of chocolate milk and sit for my violin practice. I start with the lower speed and gradually increase to a higher speed. Somehow, I find solace in the positive vibrations around me; the rising sun, the sweet sound of the Koel birds chirping outside my window and the melodious tone of the violin. When words fail to express my grief, elements in nature speak in a language which none but I can understand and gain control over my emotions.
2. Painted smiles.
It’s someone’s birthday. You have been invited to attend the party. On reaching, people don’t acknowledge your presence and carry on with their fun. You are left all alone. The parents of the birthday boy call all the kids for a group photo. You join the crowd, and the father says, “Smile!!!” All kids grin, including you. But does that smile you give mean that you are happy?
Think about it, you weren’t treated properly at the party, and you were left all alone, and then you are asked to smile for a photo. Isn’t the smile you give completely fake?
I think you understand what a painted smile is now.
3. The sun now begins to set. Rather than engulfing me with a sense of gloom, the sunset seems to remind me that there is always an end to challenges and hardships. As I look out of my balcony, sipping a hot cup of tea, watching the birds fly blissfully to their nests, I get reminded of the fact that life is like sunrise and sunset. The sun rises like the challenges which rise in our path, but always sets down like the setting sun. These are the few moments of bliss I experience, before becoming too befuddled with my other desires.
Varsha: Our amazing comic illustrator! She finds inspiration in the small, vague details hidden in the world, and incorporates them into her everything.
Jyotsna: The first to introduce the bob obsession, she’s the peacekeeper (I see you hunger games fans), is on the tranquil side of our team, and writes stellar articles.
Aadhav : our talented pianist! He loves anything musical, from singing to of course, playing the piano. He loves sports too, and is an avid Agatha Christie fan.
Moukthika : Our Artist!!!! Her art skills are next level - Even buzzfeed agrees that she’s artsy and she cooks really well.
Bhargavi: She’s our editor and personal kpop spammer; expert at burning toast. She’s also everyone’s (self proclaimed) favourite unnie.
Vedika :the one team member who’s up before the sun with a smile, she’s our motivator. She’s a part of our photography gang, and contributes art and articles every other edition too!
Aravind: Fellow youtube animator addict, he's known to be talkative and lighten the mood anywhere he goes! He contributes both articles and stories
Paddy: known by the name ‘Evil.’, She’s our evil, chaotic teammate. she’s the inventor of a language we’re proud to use. She talks equally as often as Favorite Unnie, and is the author of the regular section, 3 am brain factory produce.
Pranith: A brilliant storyteller, he enjoys reading books, photography and learning new things. He is also a big fan of all things science.
Sriram: A voracious reader with his interest in a variety of genres, his fingers can do magic with both pen and brush. He loves cooking and eats cricket for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Anhiti : The youngest here,she makes the website for the particle. Famous for convincing us to save the reefs – budding artist and author. (Don’t tell her, but she’s basically kpop spammer #2.)
