Vishaal HariKrishna Kumar

I came across an article that read that women have overtaken men in alcohol consumption. That might have reactions like an old Punjabi uncle feeling bad for men who don't drink, or maybe men who don't drink enough, while on the flip side, we might as well have feminists celebrating the news. The article also read that this habit is most common among youths between 20-40. Many men and women (also boys and girls) are falling prey to alcohol consumption for a variety of reasons like peer pressure, handling stress, to feel good and most importantly being modern and fashionable. I have no idea how drinking alcohol is considered fashionable or modern. When I say to people that I don't drink, they reply "waste daa nee or naa laik hai tu", meaning "you are useless" in Tamil and Hindi respectively. That has a few implications. See, that age band is when most women are mentally and physically agile enough to bear foetuses and give birth. The consumption of alcohol...

When you say resilience, right now, in the world of cricket, there's only one name that comes to my mind: Cheteshwar Pujara. Born in Gujarat, he was exposed to cricket at a very young age. His father used to play for Saurashtra in Ranji Trophy and domestic cricket. In a world that appreciates 10 over and 20 over, quicker formats of cricket, which offer no time to settle down and play an inning, where the word "resilience" is non-existent, long-format cricket is being kept alive by players like him.       Che-Pu made his test debut against Australia in a home series back in 2010. I still remember watching that series where the Australian bowling attack was ruthless. Top-order batsmen like VVS Laxman and Sehwag were getting hit badly and got injured. Pujara came in and got out very soon. He made only 4 or 5 runs that day. In the 2nd innings, MSD had promoted him up the order, and he scored a scintillating 70-odd. That was a knock of pure grit and determination. He piss...

I've got some deep thoughts about Instagram. It was started back in 2010 as a "photo-sharing" platform, which was only available to iPhone users. Then in 2012, they diversified into the Android market, and Facebook was very quick to acquire Instagram for $ 1 billion in the same year. Since then, Instagram has undergone several updates, good and bad, with the latest and most dramatic change being the introduction of "Reels".      I joined the platform back in 2017, and it's been five years here. This place was way different then. It was informative, constructive, and largely non-distracting. Nowadays, Meta (aka. Facebook) has successfully spoilt the place and those using it. There's a ton of content being created and consumed every day. Instagram holds the top spot in user retention and engagement. There was a time when long-format videos used to rule the internet. Kids these days prefer shorter formats, say less than a minute or two which has put long-fo...

 The Border-Gavaskar trophy is a test match series played between India and Australia every two years. The series gets its name from Allan Border and Sunil Gavaskar, two distinguished captains of the respective nations. The series always comes with the hype of its own and doesn’t disappoint the spectators and cricket fans.       Currently, the trophy is held by India, after winning it 2-1 in Australia back in 2021. The memories of the series are still fresh in memory. The match looked like a battlefield and the dressing rooms were like hospitals. The Australians didn’t hold back a bit and put up a lethal pace attack throughout the series. With the then-captain and star of the team, Virat Kohli leaving soon after the first match to fulfil parental duties, India was in a tough spot. Players like Rohit Sharma kept getting injured because of the ruthless bowling attack, and the young, less experienced ones had to take the fight up. After losing in the second match, ...

I have a  few thoughts on ChatGPT. It was released back in November 2022 by Open AI. It’s a chatbot that uses AI to fetch answers to your questions. I have no idea how it works, if you’re an expert, consider enlightening me with a simplified explanation of what’s going on there. For the first time, I tried out ChatGPT to get a not-so-important assignment done. It was cool, like, I completed the work in a fraction of the time that it’d have taken otherwise. And I was very quick to weigh the advantages and repercussions that it could have on students and professionals. Talking of the good stuff, it’s pretty accurate. It gives reasonably good facts in a very well-assorted manner that even a layman would understand. The results are acceptably concise and educative enough. One can just copy and paste into a word file and submit it, that’s how good it is. And these things keep learning from their past experiences, so it’s bound to get better over time. On the flip side of the coin, it is...

Modern wars are fought less with weapons, but, more with food, energy and economy.      Every country needs oil and gas to meet its energy needs, and the EU nations are no exception. In fact, The EU has been one of the largest purchasers of Russian crude so far. Extensive pipelines connect Russia with the other EU countries for oil. One of the most important is the "Nord Stream 1", an offshore pipeline 1200 Km long under the Baltic Sea, which connects Russia with Germany and the rest of the EU. Now that Russia has reduced its export substantially, the EU is on the verge of getting into deep, deep trouble.      The Russians have been smart by not cutting off the gas supply completely, but by reducing it and increasing the price many folds. The European dealers are ready to buy oil at a price hike of up to $100/barrel. Winter is nearing, and it is that time of the year when oil and gas consumption peaks because of the usage of heaters and other stuff. Model...

Production and consumption of electricity in India India is the third-largest energy-consuming country globally, thanks to rising incomes and improving the standard of living. Energy use has doubled since 2000, with 80% of demand still being met by coal, oil and solid biomass. On a per-capita basis, India’s energy use and emissions are less than half the world average. India is soon expected to become the world’s most populous country. To meet the growth in electricity demand over the next twenty years, India will need to add a power system the size of the European Union to what it has now.      The Indian govt has introduced many reforms and policies (Such as STEPS, India vision case, delayed recovery and sustainable development scenario) towards building an energy-efficient nation and as well as keeping greenhouse gas emissions in mind. India has so far contributed little towards the cumulative greenhouse gas emissions, but we are already feeling its effects. India aims...

       A few days ago, I had been to one of the oldest temples in the world, the Virudhagireeshwarar temple, which sits on the banks of the river Manimuthar in the Cuddalore district of Tamil Nadu. The shrine was renovated and the Kumbhabhishekham was done recently. One of the things about the temple, besides that it has survived for over three millennia, are the carvings on its walls and footsteps which are in Grantha script. Inscriptions on old Hindu temples isn't uncommon as such. I've mentioned this specifically because it's the latest that I've visited.      The Grantha is a south Indian script, a fusion of Tamil and the Pallava script (closely resembles Telugu). Both Tamil and Grantha are related to the Vatteluthu (Vattezuthu), a derivative of the Southern (Tamil) Brahmi script. Modern Malayalam script is a direct descendant of the Grantha script. The modern-day Thai, Javanese and Sinhala scripts are either direct descendants of Grantha or closel...

Ok. Now Jio has joined the party with Airtel and Vi by increasing the mobile tariff price. Does this mean "party over" for customers? While people are grieving the price hike, let's try to understand this from the market perspective. All companies operate for profit. They provide services and advertise them with a capitalistic mindset. Telecom prices always drop when new technology is being adopted and prices hike when it's being developed. You'll understand this if you take a look back. 2 major events changed the telecom industry in India. One was the 2G scam, back in 2008, which led to a mass cancellation of telecom licenses. The 2nd one is Reliance Jio's entry into the market in 2016. Since then, the cost of data has been relatively low until the 1st price hike in 2019.  All companies intend to earn more average revenue per user (ARPU). It's important for them to pay off their debts and to invest in further expansion and projects. In today's scenari...