Riches unkempt

Some days back, me and my two friends decided to go visit one of Calcutta's (I prefer the City's old name, excuse my deliberate political incorrectness) old attractions ─ Botanical Garden, Howrah. Living here for almost five years, I've never actually bothered myself to go explore these attractions, although I have visited some. I had a rather terrible headache that day and a part of me did tell me to stay home but I gave my word so a little fresh air and sunshine was my forced solution.

Home to one of the larget Banyan tree in the world, this garden had a few things to offer. So I got myself excited, hoping for a worthwhile trip. However, the reality we dealt with was a rather far cry from what we had expected.

The first straw was when we realised foreigners has to pay 100 rupees while Indian had to pay just 10 rupees. Then the man at the gate doubted the fact that I was Indian while my two friends were actually foreigners (he said I looked Korean which made me brush off the annoying doubt by taking the statement as a compliment) and from there things started to get a bit on my nerves.

First of all, the Garden has been vividly maintained poorly. The garbage everywhere spoke volumes. We tried making a full day by the time we reach the Banyan Avenue where we can rent a paddle boat, so we did. But then, when we got off, we went closer to see the tree and yes, it had been fenced tightly and the really want much to see. We kept waking around and decided to visit the Cactus House and to our dismay, it was locked up and was poorly kempt. The day couldn't get any worse when thirst got me. However, the water there was good enough to just wash my hand.

Basically, everything there was either locked out and torn down. It got me thinking a lot. How beautiful the garden must be when everything was still accessible and tendered to. The entire day was basically a headaching walk in a very dry park.

Anyway, we manage to salvage some pictures out of the day...so enjoy!

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Shift in admiration

It's 2017 and like every year, we pretend we start off on a clean slate (as if the choices we made last year won't haunt us!) yes, we believe that this year will be 'our' year if we just plan it out right, make resolutions and try achieving goals for a change. Goals, life goals. This is where things start to bug me. Like a tweak in someone's picture causing a noticeable distortion, it vexes me. "Life goals AF" what are these. I'll admit, most of these are unattainable shit we desire in life but some people have gone a different path to get these things by a less-conventional way.

Let's cut to the chase. I'm talking about social medias such as facebook and instagram showing us the better things in life such as a luxurious get away, a big house, luxurious cars etc. True, these materialistic things are achievable. But nowadays, people don't want to go that extra mile of hard work to get these things in life. They would rather get it another way.

Which is why "goals" have revolved around young women shown half naked bodies who clearly do not have the meas nor occupation due to lack of qualification to actually travel and be in places they actually can afford to be. I'm hinting at instagram models. That fabricated life. All the glitz and glamour. All those fake shits. These are now goals. Whether or not their means of getting these things are moral is upto each person's standard of morality but hey, what t=does this speak? Volumes of everything wrong!!

Hard work and education is still the key. 

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