Tag: samit sharma

Samit Sharma

Published July 7, 2017

Namaste, mate.       

I got used to starting a WEB with hello in a Nordic language so using namaste felt really weird. I rarely say it, except when I’m being patronizing or sarcastic. Or when someone else greets me with namaste (no one, sadly)       

I do use folded hands _/\_ to say no quite often. Refusals with folded hands do the trick somehow. Try it. Next time you have to say no to someone insistent, say no with a fixed glare and folded hands. Bonus points if you’re also doing yoga simultaneously.       

Also please don’t do yoga. If you wanna be fit and healthy, go for a run, you sissy.        

Last week I said I’d put an anecdote in here as a weekly thing. But I think it sounds cheesy so that ain’t happening. Eventful things I like talking about will end up in the WEB, like always.       

I went to college on Wednesday for the launch of my college’s annual history magazine. It was a bigger deal than I expected. There were a lot of people there. And many copies of the magazine too. I got published!

I made that cover and edited the magazine’s layout and graphics too. There are a few hundred copies that go out to students, other colleges etc. They said it has a readership of 15-20,000 people. That’s when I realised this was no weeny project. Even if half that many people get their hands on it, hey, that’s noteworthy. So TL;DR I got published.

Cheerio!         

Tis, mate, was the Weekly Email Blast, Email 120. Happy Weekend !!!

Samit Sharma

Published June 30, 2017

Halló!       

It’s not a typo, you get the drill. It’s Icelandic. Iceland is the last Nordic country left to discuss. We’ve gotten to week 5 of 5. This one is powered by geothermal energy. This week in Nordic countries, Iceland!

Bonus unnecessary fun fact: Eyjafjallajökull is pronounced eya-fiyatla-yoku and literally means island-mountain-glacier. Fun! It erupted in 2010, a highlight of my 5th grade summer. It screwed with my then planned trip to Europe. Stupid Eyjafjallajökull ash clouds made air travel ‘unsafe’ and the trip became a no-go.       

Iceland and all Nordic countries are on my travel list. Other countries featured on the list include Peru, Chile, Russia, Mongolia, Japan, New Zealand etc. All in the temperate or frigid zones. I love cold places and absolutely love snow. Polar opposites to the hot, humid weather of my lovely hometown.       

Most places I have on my travel list are places I wanna go without my family. I have travelled a lot with my parents and brother and they are not ideal travel companions. They like touristy places, I don’t.The key difference between tourism and travel? The latter has less people involved. Travelling is probably my favourite ~active~ thing to do. Nothing beats the thrill of hiking to a cold high place that looks over a beautiful landscape. And nothing is better than finding out no one else is there to ruin that thrill.

We’re out of Nordic countries. Starting next week I’ll include one anecdote. I can’t promise fun or funny, but I can promise interesting.        

Tis, mate was the Weekly Email Blast, Email 119. Happy Weekend !!!

Samit Sharma

Published June 23, 2017

Haloo !     

It’s not a typo this week either. It’s Finnish, and this week in a Nordic countries it’s Finland, the country with a lot of lakes, a lot of snow and Nokia!

It’s been a very eventful couple of days, yesterday and today. I was accepted at Jai Hind college yesterday, and today I officially became a BMM student at Jai Hind College. Glory be. My junior college will also be my senior college.          

I didn’t apply to any other college, I knew mine was the best in Bombay. Waiting for the merit list was a serious 10th grade flashback. But I got in. I guess my application letter to the principal worked. Three more years!         

Now I have very little idea what I’ll do with a BMM and what I’ll do after it. I found the subjects more interesting than other courses. Getting the degree involves practical work, too. Making short films, working for the news, marketing runs, ad campaigns and stuff. A mix of productivity and creativity. All I have to do now is find out if it works for me.         

I don’t remember most other stuff that happened this week. I remember watching Despicable Me 3 and Cars 3 in one go. The former being shit and the latter, epic.          

This has been boring, even for me. I’m gonna stop now.

Cheerio!       

Tis, mate was the Weekly Email Blast, email 118. Happy Weekend !!!

Samit Sharma

Published June 16, 2017

Hallå!       

Again, not a typo. It’s Swedish, from the lovely country of Sweden. A country with a solid color combination for it’s flag and good meatballs, apparently. So, this week in a Nordic countries? Sweden.

This was probably a third consecutive eventful week. A lot has been happening, in stark contrast to my lazy summer. I’ve been to the bank to get my checkbook and debit card. Made me feel like an absolute grown up. Got my PAN card made, also went to a court. Adult stuff that seems surreal to me, even though I kinda am one.       

Other notable things I’ve done this week include reading a Robert Ludlum book and try watching Netflix again. I think these are grown up things too (?).       

To cancel out so much adulthood, I’m gonna go watch Cars 3 and Despicable me 3 over the next few days. Good old animated movies are that somehow are better than most movies out there. 

Cheerio!       

Tis, mate was the Weekly Email Blast, email 117. Happy Weekend !!!

Samit Sharma

Published June 9, 2017

Hallo!       

That’s not a typo that’s Norwegian. A language that looks like it’s entirely made up of typos. Anyway, this week in Nordic countries we have Norway.

Now that that’s done with, let’s get to more interesting things.          

Monsoon clouds are almost here, which means summer 2017 is over. It was my first summer as an adult, and lots of things happened.          

Wonder Woman was definitely the movie of this summer. I scrambled to watch it today and I’m glad I did. It was awesome. DC should make more Wonder Woman movies with whatever money they have remaining. Galway Girl and Hardwired have been my songs of the summer. They’re on opposite ends of the music spectrum but I like them both a lot.            The worst of this Summer includes Frooti Fizz, Superman graphic novels and new Katy Perry. All three extremely disappointing.           

On a personal note, I spent some time at the gym and got in shape. I lost 11 pounds! Which is only 5 kilos but still a lot for me. I can bench 60 kilos, deadlift 80 kilos and plank for over 2 minutes. I’m sorry that I’m bragging about these like a gym person, but sadly I think I’ve become one. A gym person.           

I write this as I return from college, after getting my State test marksheet and leaving certificate. I’ll be busy with admissions starting next week, which means it’s the end of summer vacation.

Cheerio!          

Tis, mate was the Weekly Email Blast, Email 116. Happy Weekend !!!

Samit Sharma

Published June 2, 2017

Aye matey!

That’s how a pirate says he’s 80. And how I say hello. What a pun to start this email. Thank you tumblr. Puns are always the way to go.          

This has been an insanely eventful week, one of the the most eventful this year so far. And that’s not because Trump made a new nonsense word. It’s because the state test results are out. Mine were meh. In fact my first reaction was ‘Fake News!’ But the result did have a bright spot.          

It was French, I got a 100! A perfect score. Whatever is French for nerd, I am that. My French teacher was very happy. Hopefully I’ll get into the BMM program so it should be another three years at Jai Hind College.         

This week in Nordic countries, we have Denmark. Land of the very nice Danish people. They’re a constitutional monarchy but probably the best one in the world.

I was watching YouTube videos on my commute to college yesterday, which put an end to my months old YouTube dry run. Also spent time ~socialising~ after a month of pseudo social isolation. So yeah, I guess college is my definition of normalcy. Or just everything seems better when you have something to do.

Cheerio!         

Tis, mate was the Weekly Email Blast, Email 115. Happy holidays !!!

Samit Sharma

Published May 26, 2017

Góðan daginn, mate!         

I’m continuing with Norse this week. I read up on the Nordic countries : Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden. The happy countries. Class toppers among nations with epic mythology, Vikings and kickass economies. Ooh and Góðan daginn means good day.         

Nordic nations are always top on lists of human development, happiness, economic prosperity and related rankings. I don’t know why people don’t talk about them. They’re also very rich and very beautiful. They also have a union: The Nordic council, which the probably the most successful union of nations today. (Sorry European Union). Basically, the Viking cool kids club with highest minimum wage, social equality and very little social unrest. Also, fjords and Icelandic horses are so cool.

Let’s not confuse between Scandinavian and Nordic countries. I’ve really started to like these countries, so starting next week I’ll write a little about one Nordic country each week. I’ll call it This Week in Nordic Countries.       

*cough* Nerd ! *cough*        

I read too much non fiction, and lately I’ve noticed I remember it a lot better than fiction. I got bored of reading classics and ‘well acclaimed’ books, so I started reading Dan Brown again. I realised I didn’t remember massive chunks of his books (which made ’em more fun to read). My memory is picky, it remembers more useless facts and stats than I could ever need. It just deletes things it doesn’t like, like names of people (which can cause stress when you run into them). How memory works is just very interesting.

One thing I do remember is my birthday gift. This week I found out that it isn’t a car. Which was a letdown. But I still have my hopes up, fingers crossed.         

Cheerio!          

Tis, mate, was the Weekly Email Blast, Email 114. Happy holidays !!!

Samit Sharma

Published May 19, 2017

Sæl !        

That’s hello in old Norse! Why old Norse? Because it’s Friday, the day named after Frigg or Freya, the Norse goddess of fertility and love. Across Europe, the fifth day of the week is named after the goddess of fertility and love (aka doin’ it). French people have vendredi named after Venus, Greeks had heméra Aphrodites after Aphrodite and so on. TL;DR Friday is the day for doin’ it. (And emails! Yay!)       

Speaking of yay, we’re in the middle of May, the month everyone is home and nothing gets done. May is vacation for my parents, my brother and me. So everyone is home, and there’s a lot of Monopoly, Uno, Scrabble, Jenga happening. Along with a lot of TV and movies. You see why I said nothing gets done. It is fun though, I’m pretty good at Jenga and I haven’t lost a single game of Uno all day.         

Speaking of day, my dad turns 45 today. That’s really old. He’s 2.5 times as old as I am. Prehistoric, which makes sense because he loves history. We share the same sun sign, Taurus. I was born in the first couple days of Taurus (?) and my dad in the last couple. We both think sun signs are dubious, but I’ve been reading the little Taurus box at the end of the Mumbai Mirror for ten years, literally. I lie about that too.         

Anyway I got my dad a painting on papyrus for his birthday. I still haven’t gotten my parents’ gift from my eighteenth, it’s almost a month overdue. They haven’t told me what the gift is, it’s too much suspense. I wish they’d told my brother what the gift is. He couldn’t hold a secret if his life depended on it.

Cheerio!        

Tis, mate, was the Weekly Email Blast, Email 113. Happy holidays !!!

Samit Sharma

Published May 12, 2017

Konnichiwa!       

Yeah I got sick of moshi moshi. It sounds great, I know but the secret sauce of WEB intros is variation. That’s also the key to good bowling but that is literally a whole different ball game.        

This has been a movie dominated week for me. Yesterday I watched Guardians of the Galaxy Volume two, which was awesome. It has better songs, baby Groot, and Ego, god and creator of the universe who is killed by the Guardians so hooray! It’s a perfect sequel. Also do you know why Drax never wears a shirt? It’s because he has sensitive nipples. I’m not kidding just go watch the movie it’s awesome.         

Guardians wasn’t the only perfect sequel I saw this week. I also watched Bahubali 2. I watched the first one this Saturday. I’d heard praise for it but never bothered because it was a Dharma productions movie. But then I saw it and saw the second one the very next day, they were both good. This was probably the first time I’ve finished a Dharma movie.          

I’ve never watched a Karan Johar movie to the end. I’ve lied countless time about it, but if it is a movie directed or produced by him, I’ve only reluctantly watched some parts. I like Koffee with Karan, I just can’t sit through his movies. All his very popular movies that have at least one K in their titles? I’ve never watched ’em fully. Just lied to many people that I have. I hope to watch ’em though, someday.       

Maybe all those lies about what I’ve watched are coming back to bite me now. I don’t feel like watching anything online now, not even the WWE network. It’s causing a lot of cognitive dissonance, not being able to watch something I love. I am reading though, I started reading Saki and O. Henry this summer. ‘Classic’ authors: their stories might be meh, but they’re all well written.

(Don’t forget to wish your mom a happy Mother’s Day on Sunday.)        

Cheerio!       

Tis, mate was the Weekly Email Blast, Email 112. Happy holidays !!!

Samit Sharma

Published May 5, 2017

Moshi moshi, mate!         

I don’t think there’s a better way to start an email than moshi moshi. It took me triple one emails to figure that out. It breaks any email ice right away. I might change my views on moshi moshi, but hey, it’s cooler than konnichiwa.         

I tried learning Japanese two summers ago but it wasn’t easy and the script was insane so I stopped. But I’ve learned several interesting things since, especially this week. I was at my grandma’s and saw my family tree. I noticed that all of my paternal ancestry is just guys. Just sons. So I learned more about the alleged curse running through my family.        

A sage once cursed one of my ancestors that there will never be a Sharma daughter. For the previous eight generations, (plus my brother and I being the ninth), no daughters. Just sons and a family tree that branches out to one side only. Everyone including me brushed the curse thing aside saying it was coincidence. But damn the sage dude wasn’t to be messed with. I hope my curse and spelling giving prowess is that good.         

My parents also said that my brother was born because they wanted a daughter, but things didn’t work out accordingly. He did not take that well. It was pretty hilarious though. I also saw my birth chart for the first time. I didn’t understand most of it but among the notes underneath it was mentioned that I’d die because of my ego or because of heartbreak. Now the former is very much possible but I call bullshit about the second one. I cannot die of heartbreak. It’s too lame.         

That was another edition of a me-charade. Sorry again. Say what you want but writing about yourself, although selfish, is nice. If thinking is a lifelong conversation with yourself then thoughts about family curses and predictions etc would qualify as gossip. I just shared some  with you.          

And please don’t believe in curses and birth charts and astrology(?). They’re all horseshit.         

It’s really hot out, stay cool.

Cheerio.         

Tis, mate was the Weekly Email Blast, Email 111. Happy holidays !!!