Damselz-In-Sanity

 Hello everyone and welcome back! Today's faltu-friday blog may be slightly eccentric as opposed to my previous posts. This time, it's not going to be me speaking of a topic myself, but rather, one which I encourage you to speak up on. Do you give as much energy to your dreams as you do to your fears?  So, I request you to drop your comments (either private or public) on the quote above. Signing off, Kuhu :)

 Have you ever simply thought of a product and it randomly pops onto your Instagram feed? Welcome to ✨Neuromarketing✨ Let's break the term down first. Neuro: concerning the brain Marketing: Well yes, promoting a product or service. The field of neuromarketing—aka consumer neuroscience—studies the brain to predict and maybe even manipulate consumer behaviour and decision-making.  As simple as that.  In the past, decision-making used to be uncomplicated. However, in today's world, consumers are overwhelmed with information, and even the most basic products are surrounded by countless options. Marketers are trying to understand the customer, what they are looking for, and changing their outlook towards a particular product. Let me give you 2 examples to simplify this concept: There are more than 200 different brands of bottled water available in India. Why does someone prefer a Bisleri to Dasani? Can this preference be generalised? There is no single, straightforward an...

(Don't be this person!)  Hello hello and welcome backzo! Last week, I covered the topic, 'Science of Bragging' , and as promised, today's blog is on how to address one.  (Because obviously, problem ke baad solution dena padta hai; customary) Anywhoo, here are a few of my reflections from experiences and I hope you all can relate to and also incorporate them into your lives :) Without further ado, Let's get to it! 1) Listen politely and change the subject or leave when you can Do it naturally and sincerely. Don't try to come off as overly disinterested and apathetic to show them how uninterested you are. Just be friendly and engaged enough, let them finish their self-promotion, and then change the topic or excuse yourself. Even if they're trying to put you down, playing it cool and being polite can often work well. Just smile and nod, as if they're sharing some random piece of information. Don't let them see that they're getting to you. 2) Call th...

 Heilo heilo and welcome backzo! Aaj ka blog is based on something that I, you, and literally every other person has dealt with; and maybe even endorsed (it's alright - trial and error process ya!) ✨Bragging✨ Now some of us may have done it intentionally; others, unintentionally; and a third category does it so much that you forget that you're doing it in the first place! It's sort of like lying. You lie once, you lie a 100 times. None of us like to speak to a vain boaster, but sometimes, we're too quick to judge.  So, in today's post, let's break down the science of bragging: Why do people brag? Simply put, to mask themselves. 90% of the time, people who brag are in reality, unknowingly, insecure about themselves and so they find a need to validate themselves by putting others down; or raising their level. More fancily put, braggers monopolize a conversation, paint a distorted picture of their lives, and use good news to justify their inflated sense of self-wor...

(Picture Credits: The New York Times)  Hello everyone and aaj ke #faltufriday blog post mei aap ka swaagat hai. Today's post is a literal shower thought but I thought it might be really cool so yay :) (Okay okay I'll get a bit more formal now) Music, as we all know, holds the power to influence us. We connect with it because it connects with us - our life story. So, today's blog is going to be me sharing some of my favourite (and yours!) mental health-related lyrics' of songs :) (Just a friendly reminder that everyone has their own unique taste in music, so let's respect each other's preferences!) And I won't be sharing "my thoughts" or anything on it - I'll leave the interpretation up to you! Let's go :) I used to float, now I just fall down I used to know but I'm not sure now What I was made for What was I made for?                                          ...

 It's 2am. You're at your study desk with a cup of coffee at your side. You sailed through Matrices; hit a slight bump at derivatives but managed it through and now are entering the most daunting task of them all: Integration. Your only sense of motivation: The Hum Honge Kaamyaab Spotify playlist consisting of Lakshya Title Track and Bhaag Milkha Bhaag Rock version on loop. It's 6am. Congratulations! You successfully fell asleep midway through Partial Fractions! This is what actually happened to me a day before a Math exam :) And you can most probably relate to listening to music while doing math too <3 Because musical transposing involves mental adjustment of notes up or down by a specific amount, it shares cognitive elements with math! Listening to Music while studying Math can be beneficial because, at some level, all music is math. It's about time signatures, beats per minute and formulaic progressions. (Perhaps that's the reason behind the Asian-piano stereo...

 I cried after my 10th Grade board exams ended. More recently, I cried once HFSMUN (my school's flagship event) ended. Update as of 21 Dec 2024: I cried when my first semester in College ended. Now before you label me a 'cry baby' or assume that this is the end of my blog (sns not anytime soon!), let me clarify: This post isn't about promoting the benefits of crying (we've already covered that in another blog post ). Instead, my main focus will be on the feeling of "It's All Over", and how to bounce back from such moments. Do you ever feel like you spend so much time, so much hard work over something and suddenly it's over? Countless hours working towards a particular goal and it's done. Like khatam?  And this feeling is even more prominent when it's something you've had on your personal bucket list for the longest time; it's a passion; or a dream. (Okay enough with the emphasis - you get it) This feeling - I have no better way of ...

 Before starting Junior year, I pledged to myself that I would make it "my year." I would study super hard, I'd make a million friends, and I'd come under the teacher's radar. Jump to September 2022,  I was burnt out. Walking back home with earphones plugged in, I remembered the first line of this post. And then I also realised how incredibly stupid it was of me to think I could ever accomplish it. Now don't get me wrong, it wasn't stupid because it was unattainable; it was stupid because it was unsustainable. Many a time, when we wish to just give up everything and "move on" ( start completely fresh), we tend to forget our past and our learnings from it. That is (one of) the biggest mistake we as humans make. Rather than acknowledging a fact, we tend to ignore it and act like nothing happened because after all, Ignorance is Bliss, na? A fresh start shouldn't mean giving up your whole life in pursuit of something new. A fresh start is when yo...

Heylo everyone and welcome to a fresh new month :) I'm back with another poem - born at 18:42pm on a Friday when I had over 17 things on my to-do list but felt like doing nothing but a 'poem rant'. Presenting to you, Goodbye; High School. In all honesty, I have no idea where I’m headed with this. I sit at my table, staring at the screen’s glare, How did it get so complicated? I weep in my despair. 800 pages of Organic Chemistry A pinch of 150 Math sums too, Juggling to complete my research paper, My senses wish adieu. This inevitable pressure to have it all, Does anyone truly? An overcast cloud; unduly. Get good grades, You’ll have an amazing college; How do I manage it all? My mental health - acknowledge? I want to scream and shout and break everything around, But here I sit; Straining my eyes out. The relentless comparison, The fights to be on top, Will YOU ever make up, For the friends, I had to drop? Flustered I cry, Waiting for every day to get by. For a year from now,...

 Literally shivering in disbelief as I author this blog because OH MY GOD IT'S BEEN THREE FULL YEARS TO BLOGGING!!!! Thank you to every single person out there who's read/is reading my blogs and has supported me in this journey. I genuinely did not think 3 years would pass by so quick and blogging would become such an important - and a root to several other journalistic pursuits - activity for me. So, once again, I owe it all to you guys :) I love you. I spent an unrealistically excessive amount of time thinking about what to author for this year's 'blog-iversary' (hoping this catches on haha) but finally came to a conclusion which I hope you all enjoy :) Blast from the past? 3 years on paper doesn't seem like much. But when you break it up into 36 months, 1095 days, and 1,576,880 minutes... So much has happened in the past 3 years and it would only make sense to share some stats with you guys :) For starters, this is my 159th blog post! We built a community of ...