Barney Stinson and I have a lot in common. Not only are we both awesome, look good in suits and tuxes, we also like a challenge. The month of May is one of my least favourite months in recent times. Sure, up until a few years back, I used to get summer holidays. Now, not so much. So anyway, I wanted to do something I have never done before. I wanted to set a challenge for myself. I decided that I won’t eat outside food for a month. Yes, that means no dining out, no takeout, no deliveries, no going to Sai Ram Parlour at 2 am for some yummy fried rice. Zilch. This was a daunting task, especially for me because I like to eat out. I mean, who doesn’t ?

So, writing this on the 31st of May, unless I go rouge in the next few hours, I am happy to say that I have successfully completed this challenge. And no, it was not easy at all. For me, not eating out was like having a the keys to a Mustang and not driving it at all. You drive around town and look at the restaurants with those names and tell me they aren’t calling you to come and order something good. I could swear that one time when I was driving by my regular old haunt, I could swear I heard the place calling out to me in a very weird whispering voice “Akhil, you know you want to come to me” . Thankfully, I didn’t listen to the devil on my shoulder and just drove on. Initially it was tough but then as the month stretched, I dove myself into my regular old routine and I haven’t looked back. Here are a few things which I learned when I completed my challenge.

1. MONEY NOT SPENT IS MONEY SAVED .

I mean, it’s sounds very obvious right. But I checked my average spendings when I go out for a meal or a snack per month. It was significant. So not eating out definitely made my bank balance healthy which made my parents a little happy I hope.

2. I LOST A TON OF WEIGHT

I kid you not. Okay, a ton may be a little exaggerating. But it was significant. I mean a lot of people kept telling I did lose quite a chunk. I gotta be honest, it did feel good. Only downside I guess is that a lot of my clothes have become loose. Upside ? More shopping. My point about saving money becomes more useless as you read this. Anyway, on to the next thing.

3. I ACTUALLY GO TO THE KITCHEN A LOT MORE

And not just to fill my water bottles or use the microwave. This is the best thing that has happened to me in the past month. So, since I started this challenge, I knew that I still have to eat food. With my parents out of the country, now was the perfect time to actually experiment with some cooking. Not only I wanted to cook and eat, I also wanted to eat healthy. So I stopped eating rice because carbs FTW. I went to the store and bought some organic quinoa. Those freaking seeds changed my month for sure. They are so damn delicious. I’m not saying I am the next Ramsay but cooking your own food, no matter how bad it tastes (it didn’t thankfully) gives you some satisfaction which is hard to get out. I am happy that I finally started to learn cooking. It’s never too late people. Also, cooking is sexy !! Isn’t that right ladies ? 😉 ( You can PM me with your answers ).

4. ENVIRONMENTAL FRIENDLY

Okay, this might sound like I’m grasping at straws (straws are bad btw) but whenever I go out with some friends for a lunch or dinner, we usually order more than we can eat and the food is wasted. You know, nothing is more sad than wasted food for me. And also, take away and delivery and doggy bags are again all packed in plastic. So I definitely think I did reduce my footprint this month. And if you do go out for a meal, don’t order way too much. Food is secondary when you go out with the gang anyway. It’s all about the gossip.

5. I STILL VISIT THOSE REGULAR HAUNTS

When you go to the same place again and again, you do make some friends. Be it the cashier or the guy who makes my chicken roll. So, I still go to some of my old places. I mean, it’s unthinkable for me to not go to Creme Shakes on a saturday night. That’s like the most routine thing ever for me to do in Vizag. Well, I still go every there Saturday. I say hello and buy some water instead of a milk shake because sugars FTW. I do go to B-treats from time and time and say hello and chat and buy a frooti instead of biryani.

So overall, this month was pretty solid. Of course, I got back to my studying but also I tried something new which was pretty cool for me. I saved some money (fingers crossed I did) lost weight and apparently look in decent shape and started to love to cook. This was my best May since 2016 for sure.

Now, I am going to play devil’s advocate here. This is to all the people out there who might think that I acted like an idiot by writing this stuff because you aren’t living at home or are way too busy with work to have time for cooking and the only option for you is to eat out. I know it’s super difficult if you are living in a hostel or something along that line. Believe me, I have gone through that as well. This was something which I tried and I was happy with the results I got and I wanted to share it you. So relax, I didn’t mean you.

And to those, who actually have the opportunity and to those who don’t own a restaurant (sorry), try this. I can assure you that at the end of the month or even two weeks, you might actually start to like it. Until next time, adios y cuidate !

PS : Those lovely GIFs were from giphy.

You’ll eventually reach where you want to be. Later if not sooner. But you’ll reach there. That’s what matters the most. Enjoy the ride.

A+S

Holy Crap. Today, I turned twenty four. Sometimes I wish I was like Peter Pan, the boy who never grew up and could also fly which is very cool. That number suddenly has got alarm bells ringing in my head. I was like what the hell am I doing with my life. At the age of 24, with no job on the horizon so far and a personal life almost non existent and a lot of my friends and colleagues taking their steps in their careers, it suddenly hit me that the reason why I was down was because I was being a complete idiot. I have been doing one thing which a lot of people have advised me NOT to do. I was comparing myself with others. This is probably what shattered my self confidence.

Every person is unique. I always felt that I had this low self esteem regarding a lot of things. I mean, yeah no one is perfect but my chase of perfection is the stupidest thing that I have ever done. A lot of my friends recently are going to start their careers in the field of medicine and they are going to change the world. I am so happy for them but then then I start acting stupid and again these thoughts started racing in my mind. I was like “Dude, when are you going to get your shit together ?”. The thing is I actually have a clear plan to where I wanna go. So technically, I think I got my shit together but the only thing is that my journey is a little longer than usual. It took me a long while to finally grasp that and I still wonder if I may be able to hold it long enough. Hence, I wrote this post because whenever I start acting like the idiot that I am, I can read this and probably curse myself and say “Right, let’s continue our journey”.

I just hope no one out there is like me but if you are, then I only tell you one thing. Stop comparing yourself to others. Nothing good can come from that. You are a wonderful human being and you will reach where you want to go if not now, then later. Right now I am at peace with myself but I fear that is gonna get disturbed sooner rather than later and this post is going to be a constant remainder for me. So I conclude that 24 is not that old. Oh wait, I feel old, cold and alone again. Never mind, going through this post again. This feels like a shit post but some shit is good right ? Going to have some good whiskey before Endgame tonight. You have a good weekend. Bye !

Firstly, I want to thank everyone who has read my first post. I received a lot of messages of support. It was very overwhelming and I just want to thank everyone from the bottom of my heart. The encouragement people gave me was absolutely mind-blowing and I will try my best to write good stuff from time to time. Thank you again for the support.

” The question is, are we happy to suppose that our grandchildren may never be able to see an elephant except in a picture book? ”

Sir David Attenborough

Over the past few days, I was watching this documentary on Netflix called “Our Planet”. This was narrated by Sir David Attenborough, fondly called as Britain’s national treasure. Watching this show was an eye opener to me. It showed all kinds of wildlife all over the world and how they survive amongst themselves. It was beautifully shown with Sir David’s voice the cherry on the top. The message of the documentary was very clear. We need to change if we want to protect our flora and fauna.

“Scientists estimate we are now losing species at 1,000 to 10,000 times the background rate, with literally dozens going extinct every day. It could be a scary future indeed, with as many as 30 to 50 percent of all species possibly heading toward extinction by mid-century” –

biologicaldiversity.org

I always wondered why I loved watching animals. Watching an animal brings some kind of unexplained happiness. Animals that are even rare to watch bring even more joy when we catch just a small glimpse of them. The reason always evaded me but I couldn’t care less why. Remember the good old days of packing a big lunch and going to the zoo ? These days when I go, I always feel that I see less animals than before. I just assumed that there were less animals in the cages and more were free out in the wild. That was far from it. The bitter truth is that the population of animals is suffering. Why is this happening ? This has started to occur as recently as the 20th century. Did you know what happened between in 20th century ? My best bet would be population explosion and industrialisation. Animals don’t need many things to survive unlike us humans. Most of them just need food, a mate and shelter to survive. Animals are supposed to get eaten too. That’s all part of the food web which maintains that intricate balance. But you know what disturbed this balance ? Good ol’ humans. We are indirectly causing the suffering and the inevitable decline of thousands of species. Sir David did say one thing that is still in my head. It’s ISN’T too late to change ourselves. We can see massive results in a short duration of time even if we take small steps.

I’m sure all of you know plastic is bad. But do you know why is it bad for wildlife ? Plastic should actually be recycled but the sad truth is that there is too much to recycle it. The rest of the plastic is dumped in water bodies. So, the wildlife which lives in the oceans and other water bodies ingest the plastic which is lethal to the marine wildlife. Plastic materials which are floating in the water also make it hard for the dissolved oxygen to penetrate into the water. So the animals can’t breathe and because of this the survival becomes a lot more difficult.

You know that the fish or any seafood we cook and eat may NOT be safe at all. What if a fish ate some minute amount of plastic and then a fisherman caught the fish and sold it to the local market. Then you go buy the fish and cook it and eat it. The plastic in there was so little that even if we clean it thoroughly, it going to be highly unlikely to get rid of it all. So we eat the fish thinking it was clean but we also ate some plastic as well. Now imagine this happened on a regular basis. So ultimately the humans are ingesting plastic which is bad for us as well.

The plastic also affects land animals. Some people dump plastic on the ground. Stray animals try to the eat it because the plastic is usually some kind of foot item. They eat whatever little food is left over but also eat a whole lot of plastic. That is terrible for them. It can get stuck in their intestines causing blockade, the plastic can get stuck on the wings of birds not enabling them fly properly or can get stuck on the legs of animals which make them more difficult to escape their predator.

I genuinely think that by single handedly reducing the use of plastic, we can make a huge difference in preserving the wildlife. I want to share some basic hacks that can actually cut some significant chuck of plastic from our daily use.

1. When I go shopping, I always try to carry my own bags. Whether I’m shopping at Spencers, More etc bringing my own bag actually means I don’t have to take a plastic bag from the supermarket. They have also started charging for the bags so more people try to save money by bringing their own bags. Replace plastic bags with jute bags/cloth bags/paper bags which are way more eco friendly.
2. Say NO to straws. They are tall and sharp. They are very very toxic because they can very easily get stuck in the throats of animals.
3. Stop buying plastic water bottles, soda, soft drinks and other sugary drinks because not only are they plastic material but also bad for our health. Bring your own reusable non plastic water bottle.
4. Request your online retailer like Amazon, Flipkart etc to hold back on the overzealous packaging of air filled plastic bags for books and other small items.
5. Go Digital. I think these days most of us have got high speed internet. And if you do, start streaming with Netflix, Hotstar, Prime Video etc instead of buying discs.

These are just few simple changes if done for a significant period of time will definitely make some positive impact on the environment and the wildlife. I want everyone who are reading this to try and reduce our plastic footprint by adopting some of the ways described above. I also request you to share any other ways we can reduce the plastic use by giving a comment. Small changes when done a large scale can have the biggest impact on the environment. Always remember the 3 R’s – Reduce, Reuse and Recycle.

Please watch the documentary “Our Planet” which is currently streaming on Netflix worldwide. Sir David narrates what I believe is a masterpiece.

I want to end by saying that it’s never too late. I am going to try my best to reduce my plastic footprint and so should you. Let’s take baby steps in making a significant change for a better planet and a better future. Thank you.

My first time visiting the US was pretty surreal. You know, growing up watching a lot of Western movies and television shows, I was really excited to come to this country. I must admit that American culture really influenced me. Of course, it was nothing like in the movies when I first visited here back in 2014. My sister moved to Seattle in early 2014 and has been living here ever since. She has her own family here now. She is mom to a dog called Bruno and got married after finding love here. I visited first back in 2014. My first trip outside India. It was a culture shock to me initially. But then I got used to it. The people here are absolutely amazing. Then most people in America are like that which I learnt later when I lived in the East coast for a few months.

First time here, I did mostly the touristy stuff like visiting the Space Needle, Pike Place Market, taking an Argosy Cruise and so on. Living in downtown helped a lot as I could just go out and roam around on my own. The first trip was definitely memorable and I felt that I had more trips coming up. Until then, I had no definitive plans for my future. I was still in my 2nd year of medical school back in India and I was just visiting anyway. But I thought maybe living here wouldn’t be such a bad idea. Then I slowly started planning for my “future” which meant doing nothing really productive other than just browsing the internet for hours and hours.

Fast forward to 2019, I still keep visiting Seattle because of family but I know for sure that family isn’t the only reason why I keep coming back to this city. I think that there is a little part of me that has fell in love with this city which I find it very scary because I know for a fact that the chances of me ever living here are next to none. But I know for a fact that as long as my family lives here, I’ll keep coming back and I’m pretty chuffed about it.

• 

Seattle is known for its picturesque natural beauty. No wonder people here love to do outdoorsy stuff even though it rains for more than half of the time. Some people call the weather here dark and gloomy but I just love the weather here. It’s so beautiful when it rains here. Maybe it’s just me but I’ll take the rain all day over bright scorching sunlight. This city is a proper sports city. They have an American football team, a football team (yes FOOTBALL !!) and a baseball team as well. And their fans are absolutely amazing. I have been to a few Sounders’ games and I feel that that their fans are the loudest in the country.

• 

Now we can’t talk about Seattle and not mention technology. Amazon was actually founded here and Microsoft has it’s HQ in nearby Redmond. And the airplane manufacture Boeing has it’s HQ in Renton as well. And did you know that Starbucks was founded here and the first ever Starbucks in the world is actually at Pike Place and yes, there is a HUGE line (usually 30-45 mins wait time) to enter the coffee shop.

• 

I wanted to dedicate my first post to this Seattle because this is where I got this idea of starting a blog. Seattle will probably always be my second favourite city in the world. My favourite city will and forever always be my hometown of Vizag, in South India. You haven’t seen the last of me Seattle. I will keep coming back because you have always been so welcoming to me and millions of other visitors. Thank you for being a special place to me forever and always.

• 

Hello everyone

I am Akhil. I am a medical student from India. I’m 23. Growing up, I started to read a lot of books and ever since I had a dream of actually writing a book. I thought I should write as much as possible and this got the idea of me starting my own blog. I started this blog just to write as much as content as possible and let you the guys be the judge of that. I am not going to write about one particular topic but just random stuff which I think could be worth writing. I welcome all kinds of criticism. I have to finish my medical licensing exams but I will try my best to update this blog as much as I can. Anyway, I think that’s enough with my introduction. I am going to try my best with some quality content and hopefully you guys read it and enjoy it and share it. Thank you for reading this.

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton