Video Games

Of all the things I've ever tried to do, there's probably nothing I'm worse at than playing video games. I'm so bad at it that trying to play something is rather discouraging. It's also annoying to other people if it's a multiplayer game. The one time I played tried to play Halo, all I did was accidentally fall to my death several times before giving up.

However, I've found certain games I don't suck at too much. Right now it's Two Dots which works well for me because I only play until my lives run out (= a few minutes every day) and don't bother playing more than once a day. Also, it's clean, simple, and challenging. My mom saw me playing it once and has since been the closest thing you can be to addicted without actually playing.

So how do I decide whether or not I want to play a video game? Simple, really:

There's no way I can write about video games now without mentioning Pokemon Go. This was my reaction when I heard about it:

I don't blame video games as much as people's lack of self-control for bizarre stuff they do for these games, but this is the most absurd VG-induced accident I've ever read about: "On Thursday two men in San Diego fell off a cliff after they climbed over a fence in an attempt to catch the animated characters." Really, guys?

You know what should become an augmented reality game? Temple Run. While most people complain about the roads in Bangalore, I like to make the most of it by pretending I'm in a game: swerve to avoid people and vehicles, jump over the potholes and loose pavement tiles, duck to avoid hanging wires, and so on. This city is already an obstacle course for pedestrians. Augmented reality Temple Run would work really well here. We'd learn to be careful on the roads while having fun, and we'd lose so much weight. Oh, and it could also be time-bound so we don't use vehicles and contribute to traffic jams to go to places that are within walking distance. And maybe with more people out walking, they'd be forced to fix our pavements.

Well, one can dream. Even if that never happens, I'll still have my obstacle courses and imagination.

Coffee and Tea

There used to be a time when I couldn't tell the difference between tea and coffee. It was many years ago, but still rather inexcusable, especially for someone whose parents make tea everyday. I blame the ignorance partially on the way most places disguise both drinks with a lot of milk and sugar and partially on the fact that I was young and stupid.

I don't have a story about my first cup of coffee; in fact, I don't even remember when and where I began drinking it, but I'm certain it was milk coffee with sugar. Once I was somehow able to tell it apart from tea, it wasn't long before I looked upon it with reverence. I'd grown up drinking milk while the grown-ups drank tea (without milk and sugar, of course) so coffee was quite the novelty.

Coffee became my drink of choice, transmogrifying from sweet and milky to bitter and black. It wasn't long before I'd completely turned my back on tea. However, things change. For a while, coffee was the most fascinating thing in the world. But then something happened - so sneakily that I didn't even realize at first (or maybe I just didn't want to believe it). It may have simply been a period of bad coffee, but my body seemed to be rejecting it, so I turned to tea who was just waiting to step in and save the day(s).

That revelation might have been the effect of all the coffee in my system. I had a friend tell me once that there was "too much blood in your caffeine system". However, I was convinced that my Assamese roots were taking over and punishing me for straying from my natural path, so I decided to make up for lost time.

I found I really enjoyed tea. So much that I didn't even miss coffee for a while. Oh, and all you people hating on green tea must know this: green tea is NOT what you get in those awful tea bags people use because they're trying to lose weight. In fact, I'm not sure those have tea in them at all. I suspect it's tea-scented sawdust. Anyway, it's just tasteless marketing.
Green tea is beautiful, and drinking it is a sublime experience. Try it. Can't guarantee you'll love it, especially if you're a sweet milk tea person, but I can promise it's fragrant and flavourful and not hate-worthy at all.

Most people are firm about their identities as tea drinkers or coffee drinkers, and both sides will try to convince you that their drink is undoubtedly better. If we're talking sweet and milky, I'm Switzerland - neutral because I dislike both. But if it's just a general coffee versus tea debate, I'll most likely side with the minority to balance it out a little.

Truth is, I need both. Strong coffee in the morning, light tea through the rest of the day. If I seem more excited at the mention of coffee, it's only because finding coffee the way I like it seems much easier here than finding good tea.

Coffee is infatuation. Tea is love. Both are wonderful.

Water Colours

When I was little, I used to treat water colours like poster colours. As a result, I never quite appreciated them because they always felt like a weaker substitute for poster colours. But with increased exposure over the years, I know now that they are absolutely splendid if you know how to work with them.

The thing is, it's really hard. Blending colours on paper can be tricky. They dry quickly, so you have to work fast. You need to possess a very strong understanding of light and colour. There's a method to it: light shades first, darker shades later. One at a time. But quickly.
And if you mess something up, there's almost no way you can fix it except to start all over again.

Through the years, I've been struggling to make a half-decent water colour painting, and my latest attempt was a few weeks ago. I walked into the art room in school, and there was this lovely bunch of leaves in a pot in the centre of the room.

Those black smudges are supposed to be sparkly fairy dust. Or just sparkly dust. I mention that because they suddenly seem a little like flies.

It was very exciting, and it seemed like the perfect opportunity to take another shot at a water colour painting.

But it wasn't to be. I sat there for what seemed like a really long time, trying to find a way to do justice to all the beautiful light on those leaves.

And a few failed attempts later...

So yeah, it's going to be a while before I can produce something reasonably satisfactory in watercolour. Until then, pens and doodles it is. Oh, and oil pastels. I'm really loving those lately.