The past year has seen America come face to face with a series of events that rocked the very foundations of its democracy. Its struggles with the pandemic, its ever widening partisan divide, the distrust, the misinformation – all of America’s problems, its wounds are out in the open. The question that has to be asked is where does the nation go from here? The capitol riots in early January served as the final straw, a breaking point of the tumultuous voting cycle that called for recount after recount while dredging up all of the issues America was forced to look at in the past year. From raci ..read more

Hi everyone, Its Hiya from the writers chair and I just wanted to do a quick check-in considering it has been over a year since I started working on Amidst. Firstly, in December alone, we hit a 1k reads and got 700 visitors from all over the world (India, United States, Germany, Thailand among many others) which is insane to me! I have always said that the aim of this page was to get “someone, somewhere thinking” and I hope my words have got you questioning something.  All that being said, I am writing to inform that posts will be a little less regular till March. I am currently preparing ..read more

Here is episode nine of “Running out of power” a podcast where I interview people about things that keep them “recharged”, but stop as soon as my recording device dies. This episode features jack of all trades and master of most athlete – Hridaya Patel. She takes us through her personal journey with sports and talks about how she evolved with it. We also touch upon larger ideas of achievement, effort and the feeling winning brings along with delving into sports culture as a whole and the mentality around female athletes. From my end, it was pretty much smooth sailing. The audio issues seem to ..read more

This essay is not reflective of my personal opinions. It was written purely with the intention to see how theoretical philosophical ideas can be twisted to argue certain view points (this one just happened to be scientifically inspired) and the results were interesting to say the least. In his book, Critique of Practical Reason, Immanuel Kant wrote, “Two things fill the mind with ever-increasing wonder and awe, the more often and the more intensely the mind of thought is drawn to them: the starry heavens above me and the moral law within me.” The two things he is referring to are curiosity and ..read more

In all honesty, the headline says it all. The newly launched Netflix miniseries boasts and approval rating of a 100% on Rotten Tomatoes as of 13th November 2020 and for good reason. It is witty, excellently shot, historically accurate, but more importantly, gives sporting dramas (and coming-of-age stories) a refreshing and much needed change. This riveting story features Anya Taylor-Joy as Elizabeth “Beth” Harmon – a chess prodigy with what can be seen as a run-of-the-mill tragic backstory and internal demons. However, the fast paced and non-linear sequence of events gives the series a storybo ..read more

Here is episode eight of “Running out of power” a podcast where I interview people about things that keep them “recharged”, but stop as soon as my recording device dies. This time around I was joined by someone who took their obsession with economics and turned it into a lucrative, money making scheme by investing in the stock market – Vishvak Logar. Listen to us talk about his steep learning curve, the literal and figurative highs and lows he faced along with some heavy hitting ideas around patience and failure. He rounds it out by giving words of advice and recommends the books that got him ..read more

“What have you done? What have you done?“ He had never felt such blinding rage before and neither such an intense wave of grief. Falling to his knees with the kind of emotional pain that makes one keel over but nothing makes it go away. Startled by the hero’s outburst, sidekick silently moves back. Knuckles white as he tightens his grip around the bloodied sword, wary of any movement but none ever comes his way. Chuckling but the quiver in his voice giving way to fear, the sidekick probes “Its over right? I ended it. Isn’t this what you wanted? Isn’t this what everyone wanted?” The hero can on ..read more

Here is episode seven of “Running out of power” a podcast where I interview people about things that keep them “recharged”, but stop as soon as my recording device dies. This time around I was joined by avid singer and dancer, writing aficionado and all around one of the nicest people I have had the pleasure to meet – Anainah Dalal. She talks about visual writing, what it means, what she hopes to achieve with it and subsequently dives into this aspiration of portraying an ideal world, the possibilities it holds. We then move into writing as an art form and discuss the consumption of media, J.K ..read more

The opinions that follow are fuelled by the deeply unsettling Hathras Rape Case occurring in the state of Uttar Pradesh, India. Horrified and hoping to regain a sense of agency, we have spent the last few days researching, reflecting and penning down the public sentiment. It is our sincere hope that our words impact someone, somewhere and we make a tiny dent towards progressive change. Some sources to gain a somewhat unbiased background on the case are given below however we strongly urge you to do your own research to truly grasp the political and cultural intricacies at play. A very detaile ..read more

Recently, myself and a couple of friends ran a social experiment and reached out to our social circles to ask for thoughts, opinions, judgements that come to the forefront in times like these. Anonymity was offered to those who wished their identity remain separate from their views. This was the exact request -: “Myself and … are deeply disturbed by the realities of rape and rape culture in India. To do our part we are working on a series of pieces highlighting exactly what bothers us. As part of the same we invite you to share your thoughts around the current situation. If you choose to remai ..read more