Yhprum's Law

I’ve had a lot of things I wanted to write about over the past few months. Individually, none of them really felt like they deserved their own post, so I’ve been procrastinating on writing this blog. Instead, I’ve written small parts of it over the course of several months.

Yhprum

Now moving to the title, it does sound like total gibberish, but if you read it backwards, it means Murphy.

Most of us have heard about Murphy’s Law through Interstellar. It says:

“Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong.”

I think that’s a very pessimistic way of looking at it. So I figured, if that is true, then the vice versa must be true as well. Not in the sense that everything will go perfectly, because obviously it won’t. More in the sense that everything that can work will eventually work out. #hopecore

I would’ve loved to take credit for this little revelation, but turns out Yhprum’s Law is already an actual thing(since 50+ years). I really thought I had come up with something crazy : (

For things to work out in our favour, we need to give ourselves the chance to discover them in the first place, which can sometimes mean stepping a little outside our comfort zone. Sooo in the spirit of trying new things..

The Gym

I will start off by saying, the gym is a very boring place. Now, before people start pointing guns at me, lemme explain. Ever since I was little, I’ve been playing all sorts of sports(football, badminton, running), you name it. Coming from that, where exercise was supposed to be fun, engaging, and had a social aspect, going to the gym and doing nothing but

Pick heavy thing up. Put heavy thing down. Repeat.

felt a bit redundant and not very enjoyable(It was basically like watching paint dry). About a week in, I convinced my friend Moiz to join, and that made it much more fun. Suddenly, it was more about joking between sets and competing over the randomest thing. I also became much more regular, although I’m almost definitely playing more table tennis than actually going to the gym.(I genuinely have no idea if I joined for the gym or a table tennis).

But I guess that’s kind of the point. I tried something I was pretty sure I wouldn’t enjoy, and while I still don’t particularly love lifting weights, I found something about the experience that I actually do enjoy.

Anime

I have spent years being very convinced that anime wasn’t for me. I had quite a few reasons for it:

• The sheer size of shows: I’m the kind of person who gets anxious about starting a show and then finding out it’s nowhere near finished. When I hear about anime with 500+ episodes, it immediately feels like way too much of a commitment.
• Subtitles: I don’t really enjoy having to read and watch at the same time. I’d rather just understand what the characters are saying and focus completely on what’s happening on screen.
• Dubs: I have the exact opposite problem with dubbed anime. The syncing between the voices and what’s happening on screen can be really annoying to me, and it takes me out of the experience.
• Too much other content: Its not like there is a shortage of great movies and TV shows out there that I never really felt like I was missing anything by not watching anime.

So for the longest time, I was pretty convinced that anime just wasn’t for me.

Then, completely randomly, I decided to watch Attack on Titan.

And I absolutely loved it.

I still stand by what I said about subtitles and dubs. I would still much rather watch something where I can understand what’s being said directly. But the story itself completely changed my mind about anime. The sheer gravity of the story made it incredibly compelling.

It was one of those stories that had me on the edge of my seat from the very first episode. For something I was so convinced wasn’t for me, Attack on Titan ended up being a 10/10 in my eyes.

I might never watch another anime again, but at least I finally gave one a chance turns out, maybe I should actually try things before deciding they’re not for me (not talking about drugs).

Cooking

Now, after going to the gym, I started looking a little more into nutrition and was met with the rather depressing realisation that the food I eat on a daily basis has very little protein. So I came to the obvious conclusion: instead of completely changing my diet, I’ll just add a fourth meal. About an hour or so after my workout, I’ve started cooking something extra for myself, and honestly, cooking isn’t actually that bad. The only part I don’t particularly enjoy is the extended hour of standing around in the kitchen, which makes me wonder if I’ve accidentally found a second workout. So far, I’ve made three things: Chicken Garlic Bread, Chicken Pasta, and French Toast, and since I took pictures of all of them, I might as well share them along with the recipes. Why not?

The best part is that my mom and grandma actually seem to enjoy my cooking. My grandma, however, has taken on the role of quality control, except her main concern isn’t really the food. Every ten minutes she appears in the kitchen, looks around, checks what I’m doing and asks whether I’ve burnt the house down yet. So far, the house is still standing, which I consider a pretty successful cooking streak.

And since these are technically recipes, I have decided to document them with the exact precision and scientific methodology that cooking deserves.

The fourth meal

01 The finished chicken garlic bread Chicken Garlic Bread

02 Chicken pasta, ready to eat Chicken Pasta

03 Chicken cooking in a creamy sauce French Toast

Ikigai

Most of the books I normally read are either high fantasy or fiction. So Ikigai was a bit different from what I normally pick up. A friend recommended it to me because he really liked it, and I figured, why not? I wanted to try something outside of what I normally read, and honestly, it turned out to be a pretty nice experience.

A lot of the book talks about the importance of having a purpose, staying active, and especially having a strong sense of community. I ended up talking about it with my grandma, and she agreed with quite a bit of what the book said. She grew up in Kanyakumari, where the whole idea of community was apparently much more natural. Huge families, extended families, and relatives all living close to each other meant that people were rarely really alone. There was always someone around, whether it was family, neighbours, or just someone from the community. She also pointed out that a lot of the people she knew growing up lived well into their 90s, which made the book’s whole discussion about community feel a lot less theoretical.

I think that’s what made the conversation stick with me. I picked up Ikigai because I wanted to try something completely different from the books I normally read, and somehow I ended up having a conversation with my grandma about how people lived where she grew up.

Coconut Trees

This is probably the most random thing here, but yeah, I ended up learning how to plant coconut saplings. I had gone to Kanyakumari for a short break, and since it was during the rains, apparently it was the perfect time to plant them. So, along with another uncle, I ended up planting six coconut saplings. In Tamil, they’re called Thennum Pillai, which literally translates to “coconut baby.”

I found the whole process surprisingly fascinating, so I figured I’d document it for all the city folk who, like me, normally have no idea what goes on between a coconut and an actual coconut tree.

It apparently starts with selecting around ten coconuts when they’re at that awkward stage somewhere between a tender coconut and a fully mature coconut. These are then carefully lowered down using a rope so they don’t get damaged, and the ones suitable for planting are selected. The coconuts are then partially submerged in the soil for around two months, during which they start developing roots and sprouts. Once they’ve reached that stage, they’re ready to actually be planted.

The planting itself is pretty straightforward. First, you dig a hole around 2–3 feet deep. This was also my first opportunity to properly use a pickaxe and a manvetti(literally translates to Mud cutter). Most of the work was actually pretty straightforward and very doable, but using a pickaxe while bent over and digging was a completely different story. Apparently my back did not appreciate me using it to do something other than sit, because five days later, it still hurts.

Once the hole is ready, you put down a small layer of rock salt(as a fetillizer), cover it with some soil, and add another layer of rock salt. The sapling is then placed into the hole, preferably with a little prayer, and loose soil is filled around it so that the sapling stands properly.

Finally, a powder called Peelda powder is sprinkled around the plant. I couldn’t find a proper English name for it, but from what i gather its something of a insecticide

And that’s basically it. Six coconut saplings planted, hopefully six future coconut trees.

Of course, while I was there, I also had to try climbing one. I climbed one (using a ladder).

The tree itself was ridiculously rough and I ended up getting a bunch of tiny cuts on my hands just from climbing it. It was enough that I even had to get a TT shot(Tetanus) afterwards

Conclusion

And that’s it for now. I’ve had a lot of fun writing this, and it’s also been about a year since I started writing these blogs. Looking back, I think I’ve gotten slightly better at it, which is nice to see.

I think sometimes you just have to do the fun thing when the opportunity comes, coz why not?

#hopecore