Alankar's Blogs

  About 2 weeks ago, I finally got a new road bike. It was definitely one of the most exciting things that has happened to me in 2021, but unfortunately, the weather was not appreciative of my moment. But, I figured that rather than sitting around and re-watching the same old Tour de France highlights that I had been binging over the past couple months, I should probably still try to go outside.   So, I set my basic route on relatively small roads (yes, I hate cyclists on the roads as well when I’m driving, but if I cycle on the sidewalk, then my wrists become sore from the continuous bumps and I become a danger to pedestrians) and headed out. Last summer, I would have easily been able to complete the 25 miles within an hour. But now, it was about 40 degrees outside (basically anything sub 50 degrees is just freezing when biking) with at least a 10mph wind. And this was the first time I was actually leaving my room for an extended period of time in months. So, as expected,...

  If there is anything I have learned – or maybe just something I have already known but it is strongly reinforced – from Waiting for Godot , it is that there are many perspectives to life: the helplessness portrayed by Vladimir and Estragon, the constancy in the world by Pozzo, and just the lack of casual motion by the play’s author, Samuel Beckett. Actually, I can even relate this to something I have been recently re-watching: Mr. Bean . The comedic show is about a character, Mr. Bean, who always gets himself into some sort of mess. With the few lines actually spoken, most of the show relies on Rowan Atkinson’s (the actor) awkward and unusual movements and facial expressions, which he does a fantastic job at. And it is this weirdness which makes the show so encapsulating. Rather than doing things the normal way, he always uses his quirkiness to come up with a brilliant, yet sort of stupid, solution. Whether it be exploding fireworks in a paint can to paint his room, removing th...

  I was planning on doing some creative poem, but I genuinely cannot think of anything, so this is just going to be a sort of reflection. So recently, for some mystical reason, a bunch of clips from The Looney Tunes Show started appearing in my YouTube recommendations. As a result, I just binge watched a lot of these short clips. I actually did watch the two seasons of this show when they originally aired back when I was still in elementary school; though, I originally never really thought much of the animated sitcom, which is probably why I completely forgot about its existence until recently. But, maybe because of nostalgia, as I was re-watching these highlights and small segments, I actually began to enjoy the show. So much so, that I’m planning on going through the whole show again during Spring Break. This isn’t even the only show I want to re-watch because of random clips. There’s Phineas & Ferb, SpongeBob SquarePants, and the classic Tom & Jerry cartoon. Alright, y...

                   One plays on repeat and until it is stuck in my mind The other one sticks together, so I add some milk to help the oats unbind. One is meant to motivate “till my bone collapse” While the other is supposed to be nutritional and filling so my poor eating habits don’t relapse. One of them has a flow that’s almost flawless But an hour before I play that track, I eat oatmeal which is the complete opposite as it is so gooey and disordered, it looks completely lawless. Nonetheless, they both require each other and work in tandem Like 2 touching cogs, letting me turn the peddles faster, and with that said, I’ll now end this memorandum.

  To be quite honest, poetry still has not won me over, but I will admit it has earned more of my respect. I understand how every word the poet uses is intentional: as Master Oogway would say, “there are no accidents.” And poetry definitely abides by this. But still, ever since I had to learn about the deconstructionist lens sometime around the beginning of the year, I have been continuously irked by whether I am analyzing the text the way the author intended. I guess the direct application of this analytical method in poetry would be chunking. For instance, while reading the poem for the silent seminar, how I viewed the structure, connotations, etc. of the poem affected how I chunked the poem, which in turn resulted in giving me a conclusion that was widely different than basically everyone else’s. In general, when analyzing large works, this has not been a problem, but when every word carries its own meaning, forming the specific intention the author had in mind when writing, I b...

  The process has begun A myriad of experiences I must write The process has begun The various contrasts shouldn’t seem to fight   The deadline fast approaches Procrastination – my strongest quality – fails to receive any mention The deadline fast approaches Sometimes after reading what I’ve wrote, I realize how I ignored the prompt, paralleling the Geneva Convention, you know, by making it nothing more than a suggestion*   I finally submit Waiting is all I can now do I finally submit Farewell sleepless nights energized by some coffee brew   It is inevitable The day will soon come It is inevitable To know if I have lost or have won   The future is yet to come Will I experience the internal storm “Storm Warnings” refers to?   The future is yet to come Regardless, the results I must not eschew *this is a joke

  The Hero’s Journey is something that we have all probably heard before, and something that may even seem instinctual when we see it in practice. Though, some parts of it are just really boring. For instance, in my book club group, we are reading Purple Hibiscus , and to be fair, there are some fascinating ideas – the effects of being very religious, devotion to parents, stepping into a different realm and seeing new perspectives – but ultimately, the interest sort of fades away with all the details of, what I would consider to be, unnecessary dialogue and events. There’s one other place that I’ve seen this type of occurrence regarding the Hero’s Journey: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1. There is a film critic who explains it very well (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eeP42zUIF-c), but to quickly summarize, the Hero’s Journey is cut into half, and that first half is the first of the two Deathly Hallows movies. We see the literal journey of Harry, but we don’t see any...

  Are mentors always good? For so long, I probably would have answered ‘yes,’ as would many other people. But now, I’m starting to see that this is not necessarily the case. A mentor is just someone who guides you: it does not have to be positive guidance though. Luckily, the mentors I have had so far have been greatly beneficial not just to realize my own interests, but also to see possible career paths. However, mentors are not always so beneficial. In Purple Hibiscus , as of how far my group has read, it seems like the father is the mentor to his daughter as she is essentially being “guided” by his expectations. But these expectations create an artificial sense of what is right and wrong in his daughter. For instance, she understands that, according to her father, religion is important, but she does not truly grasp its implications in her own life. Simply put, she is just being conditioned to do what her father thinks is appropriate without any individual thinking, as individual...

Yes, the past year has been kind of hard, but honestly, it didn’t feel as brutal for me as it was for a lot of others. I’m not that into large gatherings or hanging out with others besides close friends, so staying at home didn’t really have much of an effect on that part of my life. And with a relatively easier school year (considering workload), I had a lot more time to do college applications. But now that I’ve finished those applications and am just waiting for decisions, more often than not, I find myself asking, “what should I do today?” It’s a pretty simple question, but one that I have a lot of difficulty answering. The only thing worse is at the end of the day when I ask myself, “what did I even do all day?” The best answer I have is basically just binging the most random YouTube videos from really bad drivers to how to build a nuclear reactor, but I probably should do better from now on. I’m off to college in just over half a year, and so, I will be beginning a new journey ...

Yesterday was a little chilly outside, but I was comfortable in my room. It was warm and peaceful. I was entirely undisturbed. There was no other presence in the vicinity. Suddenly, my utopia came crashing down. My door was abruptly opened with a voice shouting an order to me. My refusal meant nothing. My voice wasn’t even heard. I was entirely drowned out. I quickly grabbed earbuds and phone, and then all of a sudden, I was outside. The 10 second walk to the car was enough for the chilly weather to grab me and kill off my mojo. The ride slightly improved my mood as my earbuds provided me some isolation to get back in the zone, but then, THEY DIED! I had forgotten to charge them and now I was stuck going to a place I didn’t want to go to do a thing I didn’t want to do. My misery was growing larger by the mile as I just stared out the tinted window. There was no escape anymore. As we approached it, I prepared myself for the worst. Then, the 4 letter word gloomed over my innocent fac...

  I am ordinary. I spend all of my time doing what everyone else does: I wake up, I eat, I go to work, I read the news, I spend time with my kids, and I sleep. There is nothing out of the ordinary about my life, and I don’t see the reason to be out of the ordinary. I have everything I need, just as I’m told.   Last year I did go to India for a vacation. I bought a lot of stuff from the street market. I noticed people around me negotiating for a lower price. This made no sense to me. Whenever the vendor set a price, I always paid it in full amount. The vendors always had a large smile afterwards because I did the right thing by doing as I’m told. Politics exists. I don’t ever vote. But when someone gets elected, I support them. I also support my boss no matter what his decision is. He says I am a good listener. My wife says I am the perfect husband because I am a good listener: I never object to her. 'A happy wife is a happy life' is what I'm told.  This means I must h...

  Is it natural to be indifferent in the worst situations? Is it natural to just not care about your surroundings and just carry on with life? Both of these questions are relevant to Meursault as he consistently seems indifferent to the atmosphere around him. Whether it be Marie confessing her love for him and inquiring about marriage, or Raymond detailing his situation with his mistress, Meursault shows no signs of true care. At first glance, this would seem to be in complete opposition with human nature, as we are very perceptive and have immediate judgements – if not any visible reaction – to everything.   However, Meursault still remains conscious of his uniqueness; he accepts that he no longer analyzes himself, and – whether we openly admit it or not – with each person seeing themselves as the center of world, he could no longer analyze the rest of the world. Though it is unclear at this moment as to why he is incapable of such normal behavior, his whole narrativ...

‘When am I going to use this again in life?’ This is probably the most asked question amongst students, and in at least high school, you are often told to just remember the material for the test. In AP classes, this test is usually the AP test. But what if I’m not even taking the AP test? Then what am I supposed to do with what I learn? Some of my friends from 11 AP dropped to regular English in 12 th grade because they didn’t need more English credit and wanted an easier class. Makes sense. However, I stayed but didn’t even plan on taking the 12 AP test. When my friends asked why I stayed since I wasn’t taking the AP test, I had absolutely no answer. In any other year, I would say “GPA,” but I’ve already submitted my transcript to a lot of colleges. And even if I later have to send my senior year first semester grades, I can’t just assume I’ll end up with an A in English. I can’t grind English like I would in other classes as it is literally the most ungrindable subject. But as...

In Sophocles’s Antigone , Antigone wants to bury one of her brothers who was ordered not be buried by Creon. She is not afraid of death in the case that she is caught. It’s a pretty straightforward plot even though there are multiple themes that present themselves through Creon and Antigone’s conversations. But there is a larger idea in the story which is quite ironic when put into context – no, I did not talk about this in my essay, though I should have. Would you really risk everything just for a noble act? Probably not. An easy example of this came up in a Socratic Seminar from my last year’s English class. We were talking about Nazi Germany, and someone asked if we would help the Jews – or any other victims – if we were a German safely living in that area. Most of us said no, and Mrs. Valentino literally asked “what is wrong with all of you?” as she was astonished with our answer. I’m not trying to call her out or anything, but she really shouldn’t have been surprised. In hin...

  *Disclaimer: I have nothing against teachers. Over the weekend, I was watching a funny video on YouTube where a teacher was yelling at a student because he did not know how to use the ‘Y =’ button was on his calculator. As any other cultured person would do, I read the comment section and actually spent more time reading the comments than the duration of the video itself. What I found was just appalling. Everyone was defending the student, saying that it’s because of this behavior by the teacher that students are afraid to ask questions, and that this teacher was in the wrong. Such notions are outrageous! The math teacher was absolutely right to scream because the student didn’t know about ‘Y =’. ‘Y =’ is the most important thing anyone will ever encounter in life. I will go as far as to say Y = life. It was the ‘Y =’ function which gave me birth. It was ‘Y =’ which taught me to walk and talk: parents are just side characters. ‘Y =’ is essential to who I am, and to who everyo...

  What even is language? There are so many different forms all over the world. Each has developed uniquely over time. Even the same language is spoken differently in various regions. And with all this, language is supposed to be how we communicate. Couple distinct thoughts with dialect that is not universally understood in the same manner, and our entire method of communicating is absolute chaos. Yet… it doesn’t seem like such. The literary critic who identifies as a deconstructionist will ignore any intentions by the author and purely analyze whatever is on the page. But what if we applied this to the whole world? If we ignored all the taught connotations and inferences based on context and instead just applied definitions as they are to words – with many words having multiple definitions – language, as we know it, just falls apart. Just look at “… Baby One More Time” by Britney Spears to see an example of this (no, I don’t actually listen to her; I just saw a really bad singing...

  These three works – Sophocles’s Oedipus the King , Sigmund Freud’s On the Oedipus Complex , and Sam Harris’s The Illusion of Free Will – were written in greatly differing time periods and with varying intents. However, they all answer that some, maybe not obvious, form of fate is the true determinant of human action, and that the concept of free will is merely a societal construct which fails to retain its purity in reality.        Sophocles’s Greek tragedy Oedipus the King questioned whether fate or free will governs humans. If fate, was Oedipus “born for pain,” so that he had to result in a single final state? Who was responsible? Was “Apollo quite enough” to lay such a fate on a mortal? If free will, was it Oedipus’s impulsive behavior of shunning Creon and his wife’s opinions which caused his ultimate demise?                 Being a Greek tragedian, Sophocles wrote, a...

  Are our lives determined by fate or free will? This is an age-old question, and one I have had my fair share of trying to answer – while being unsuccessful – in last year’s Socratic seminars. I thought that the Oedipus debate would finally bring some closure to matter, but to be quite honest, I just ended up being more confused. While preparing for the debate, I felt confident in the position that Oedipus was not a victim of fate. Though, after actually thinking after the debate about what the opposition had to say, I started to question my stance. Sure, I still stand by my argument that it was Oedipus’s realization of his family’s situation which caused his ultimate demise, and that this realization occurred because of his free will. But what about when he was a baby: was this fate? During the debate, our team refrained from touching heavily on this part of the timeline because we knew the winning arguments did not lie here. That is fine, since all we wanted was to win. Howeve...

     The technique of planting a seed and allowing it to grow throughout the progression of a work is simple to understand, but rarely recognized when practiced. A great example of such was noted in the analysis of The Great Gatsby that we read. The final paragraphs of the novel are some of the most famous in all of English literature, yet we often extract them from their place for further analysis without regard to the entire context: as if Fitzgerald wrote these words before the remainder of the novel and just randomly inserted them at the end. Each idea presented on the last couple pages was originally presented in the first chapter. The seeds were planted and naturally grew alongside the plot: each being intertwined with Gatsby’s fate.      The most common example of seeds is characters as we always analyze character development. However, we must also realize this development is rarely linear and immensely complicated – just as humans are. One does n...

Something I learned this week was how to effectively develop a character in literary work without writing a stereotypical narrative. Instead of having a chronological order, I can dissect the person – metaphorically – into events and perspectives that are crucial to portray. This was explained in great detail in The Atlantic’s article on storytelling. Even my choice novel, The Beautiful and Damned by F. Scott Fitzgerald, utilized this technique by having each, seemingly unrelated, chapter represent a different trait of the main character. When an author decides to write a narrative where all the events are chronological and not independently and uniquely representative, the main purpose gets heavily distorted. In other words, the characters get watered down. This advice is especially helpful for college application essays: as I have to tell a story about myself, I need to do such efficiently without ignoring any vital elements. Furthermore, this method of storytelling connects to the...