Stories, You & Me

^{Had the best time with all of them}

ISL or leadership camp is the best thing of the entire year! I have been waiting, dreaming, and manifesting our grade going to ISL and that is because of the pandemic that did not let us go to ISL in grades 8 and 9. It has been 3 years since I was going to ISL and I had a great amount of fun. Each day in ISL felt like an episode of the show 24 where every hour of the day there is something fun and interesting happening. Here is how ISL went for me:

Day 1: 20th October 2022, 3:00 AM. My excitement was so high that I woke up at the first sound of the alarm ringing. I got ready in a matter of 15 minutes. The bags were all packed and my 20 items-long checklists had been ticked. My parents woke up around 3:30-3:45 AM. They understood my excitement and woke up. The three of us left for the airport after I bid goodbye to my dog who was curious about why was I awake and ready to go outside when it was nearing 4 AM in the morning. My parents, especially my mother told me that it is okay to be hyped about this but to contain my excitement and have no expectations about what will happen in the next 5 days will help me in enjoying the camp. I reached the airport and rendezvoused around the people in my grade and the 4 amazing and really cool teachers that were accompanying us. For the time being that we were gathering around for all the students to come, we (my friends and I) killed time by cracking jokes, and the parents dropping their wards off were chatting amongst each other. Once we went inside the airport and dropped off our luggage and did the usual things one would do at the airport if one wants to make it to the plane. We boarded the flight a couple of hours later. It was an early morning flight and as the plane slowly went up in the air I could see the pink sky slowly showing the sunrise. I could not sleep the whole day and I was extremely energetic. I was listening to my favorite playlist that I listen to when I am traveling, Once we landed, I had breakfast, and then we had to travel for around 5 hours by bus while we were dancing to music. The ISL bus soon became a party bus. After 2 and a half or 3 hours we were all tired from the dancing and I just looked outside the window as we were driving by the beautiful countryside scenery of Karnataka. While looking at that view I was playing Take Me Home, Country Roads on a loop as we were driving by the beautiful roads of the countryside in Karnataka. We finally arrived at the Indus School of Leadership in Kanakpura, Karnataka! 64 of us had been divided into different groups, being debriefed about the Dos and Don’ts and then picking our roommates. I was having a tiring day so far, I had drained myself out and started having a splitting headache. I had to sleep as I woke up at 3 AM. I slept peacefully and woke up the next morning.

^{My entourage}

Day 2: 21st November 2022, 6:00 AM. I woke up with my head feeling much better. While showering I have the habit of singing in the shower. The people living in my dorm were freaked out by my singing and I had to tell them that I am a bathroom singer and it is a habit. After getting ready and having breakfast our group team orange had to do something called the leadership reaction course or LRC. Which was basically crawling on a bunch of rubber-like ropes and then being able to stand on this small concrete curb in front of which was a wooden wall that we had to climb. It clearly felt like some sort of stealthy military operation that required some intense rope crawling and wall climbing. I had to help my whole team in crossing the ropes and climbing the wall so it felt like Mission Impossible. After the team crossed the ropes and climbed, jumped over the wall, we watched a movie called ‘The Call Of The Wild’ which was a cute and adorable dog movie, after watching it we were supposed to reflect on the leadership lessons that are inculcated in that movie. Later on in the evening, we had an activity called the discovery course. Which turned out to be the real Mission Impossible for me. I had a major phobia of heights. Back in grade 7, I was not able to finish level 1. I was not wanting to quit, my instinct told me to just face my fear. The first level of the discovery course was not that hard, but eventually, it got harder and harder. At every level of the discovery course at least once my fear was crippling on my nerves and gave me goosebumps. I was shaking but my mind kept telling me to face my fears. ‘Don’t Think. Just Do Chinmay!’ was all my mind was saying. On level 3 of the discovery course, there were two ways to the final level: the hard path and the easy one. I went with the one that was in front of me which was of the monkey loops. Before I went, I let my friend go who was also scared of heights. I told him ‘You go before me, I will be right behind you as your winger in case you feel scared.’ How did I somehow not manage to go before him when I was ahead of him? How was I so calm during the whole discovery course? Was the discovery course testing me? Finally, I made it to the zipline after that massive challenging obstacle. I ziplined shouting ‘I feel the need! The need for speed!’ After I completed that course I asked myself ‘If I could face my phobia of heights then I can also overcome my fear of exams, of failing by not thinking but doing.’ No doubt it was called the discovery course as I discovered a revelation about myself. That felt so great! I slept happily with the thought planted as a seedling in my mind about me having the ability to face any challenges. I slept early as we had a long trek starting at 7:00 AM in the morning.

_{Had fun facing my fears}

Day 3: 22nd November, 7:00 AM. We had been debriefed about our 16 kilometers long trek. Two teams, team orange, and yellow were allotted a compass, two bags, and two maps each. Team blue and green did the trek on 21st November early in the morning and came back at 3 PM. Our team, orange. Received a headstart and found point 1 in a matter of a few minutes. Then we took this long and fun trek towards a hill crossing by farmlands where we found P2 right on the hilltop where we had breakfast which was a bun slapped in jam and a box of juice. After climbing P2 on a hilltop we had to crouch down and descend from P2 to find P3 which required us to climb down a route which was on a slope inside a jungle. Afterward, we found P3, then P4 which was in a village, after that P5 which was on some dead end, then P6, P7, and P8 were not that much of a challenge and the entire trek so far was going really well in the midst of nature filled with lush, green vegetation, giant bulky rocks, and a clear blue sky. When we found P8, I noticed that the entire location reminded me of the Sanhok from the video game BGMI. It was an exact replica of that biome in BGMI. We moved on to P9 when we realized that one of our teammates forgot our bags. I remembered the route and exactly where the bag had been seen the last time. It was at P2. We went back towards P3 with the same route we came through. I remembered every single step we took. We did not require a map or at least I didn’t because I was confident about my memory. I remembered every single way we came from as if there were these exact photos just flashing in front of my eyes making me remember where we came from, who was in front of me, behind me and what were people saying and what was the next route we took before and after that. People were taking time to climb up and look for a way. I was so excited to follow on to my hunch to see if my memory is so accurate or not. Surprisingly we reached this one point that we came across in grade 7 ISL. We then walked up to the point where we ate our breakfast. Most of us were tired. But I was restless, excited, and inquisitive to confirm if my memory was actually strong or was it just a hallucination or more or less of a brag that I used to make to people of having a photographic memory. I ran up to the point where we lost our bag which was on a steep vantage point. The two friends accompanying me did not notice any bag around but my deductive eye noticed it hiding behind a rock. I picked up that bag and ran down that steep slope in excitement. It felt like an Indiana Jones movie. Yes, it is certain that the yellow team beat us. But we trekked for 26 kilometers and finished it in about 6-7 hours or so. We basically did two trips in 7 hours! We failed in beating the record time, we had to find the bag for which we walked so much. Somehow I am glad that yellow beat us because this experience was more fun than winning and that is what mattered to me at the end of the day. I may or may not have a photographic memory but I certainly do have a strong memory. From remembering people’s preferred Starbucks orders to birthdays, to what happened on a certain date, to remembering hotel room numbers since I was 5, to also remembering where a lost bag had been found, as well as remembering the route we came through for that bag. Sure, I was proud of myself. I was grateful for this experience which reminded me of one of my major strengths but I was grateful for having this gift and promised myself to not be overconfident about my memory. Besides the memory part. I was glad that we had to do the entire trek again because that was one beautiful and amazing experience that I will always cherish. I got more time to spend with nature. We had some other activities to do such as slithering. Which was basically coming down this one rope as we see in movies like Die Hard. Then we had survival cooking which was also fun. I took a nap and I was already so tired. I called up my sister who said that the house is empty without me, my noise, my presence, and my antics. That is what I wanted to hear but my sister actually said that ‘I feel bored because the house feels empty without me.’ Then we had a long conversation about cracking jokes and whatnot. I was so tired. I shut my eyes and woke up the next morning.

_{We found the treasure. Whoopee!}

Day 4: 23rd November 6:00 AM. 21 hours for ISL to end, I have 21 hours to live here and use the last 21 hours to my best. After getting ready, singing in the shower. I went outside with my friend and played a game of catch using a tennis ball. I enjoyed every moment of catching the ball left-right-and-center. Then we had breakfast and after breakfast, we had something called the disposition course. It looked and felt like a military obstacle course with so many obstacles. First, we had to climb this 7-8 feet long wall. Then, we had to build this raft and only one person could move the raft I enthusiastically volunteered to fall into the water and move the raft. I pushed the raft while getting drenched in the water and once the raft crossed, I was sliding down and couldn’t get up but eventually did for the 7th time managing a way to climb up. After that, we had to crawl on this ladder net which was a lot of fun. Later on, we had to walk on a single piece of a wooden log. Finally, to complete the disposition course we had to crawl through a bunch of tires which made me feel like a snail. I was drenched in water and dirtied in the sand. After a good shower, we had to build a bridge using ice cream sticks, which was in all honesty boring for me. I understand how others were tired but I was so energetic enough to do more physical activities. After that, there was something called camp fun. It sounded like a fifth-grader thing but it was actually all of us dancing to songs which was a lot of fun. I do not know how to dance but I just know that it is just a bit of moving and jumping around that’s all. We danced in the midst of rain that had started showering. We had to go back which ruined about half an hour of the one hour meant to be planned for us but it was still a great amount of fun. We had dinner, I took a warm shower, packed my things up, and slept at 10:30 AM.

Drenching myself in the water just for fun!

Day 5: 24th November, 3:00 AM. I woke up from my bed and woke my other roommates up. I was ready the night before with my packing. I did not want to waste any time getting ready either. It was so chilly in the morning and it was raining since last night’s camp fun. Before leaving for the bus, I thanked the instructors for hosting us and told them that I had a lot of fun, and then we left for the bus. All of us dumped our luggage inside the bus and everyone on the bus dozed off. After about two hours or so, my eyes opened. I was reminiscing the memories of the past 5 days and smiling at how amazing these 5 days went through. Once we reached the airport we had some time to kill off till the time the crowd at the entrance gate of the airport was cleared. We spent some time having fun and once we checked in, I had my breakfast. I could clearly not leave Bangalore without having dosa and filter coffee. Once I boarded I started reading a book on the flight and once we landed I did not realize that we had landed at the Pune airport as I was so focused on reading and entertaining myself as my earphones ran out of charge. I looked outside the window and I was grateful that I could go to ISL after 3 years it was a memorable learning experience. Like every leadership camp, this was the best one ever. As we landed, I grabbed my bags, thanked my teachers for accompanying us, and sat inside my sister’s car. After I reached home, I changed into my clothes, had lunch, and then crashed out on the bed taking a nap for a couple of hours. Once I woke up, I asked myself ‘Was it all real? Or was it just a dream?’

When I make my own coffee, I feel a lot of things. I feel a sense of peace, yet an adrenaline rush. I feel satisfaction, yet a quick speedy pace comes along while making it. A heartful amount of love poured into my cup of coffee, yet some complexity that I notice. My coffee recipe is to be summed up in one line: basic yet creative. I have two variations of coffee. The first one is made with roasted coffee beans. The second one is made with instant coffee. The roasted coffee beans is only for special occasions as it requires time and love to be poured into that beautiful cup which I feel is my work of art painted on a ceramic mug as my canvas.

Roasted Beans Coffee:

1. 3 teaspoons of roasted coffee beans in a coffee grinder
2. Grind them well till it grounds down to a powder
3. Smell the beautiful essence
4. Pour your powdered beans into a coffee filter
5. Slowly add hot boiling water to the coffee filter
6. Pour the hot concoction into a ceramic cup
7. Pour a teaspoon of vanilla syrup/vanilla essence into the concoction (adds on extra kick to excite your coffee)
8. Use an electric beater to beat the concoction to a thick consistency
9. Pour hot milk on the thick coffee consistency
10. Add a drizzle of cinnamon (It shouldn’t be too much cinnamon or else it will mess up your coffee) (increases the kick of the coffee)
11. Pour another drizzle of vanilla on the cup
12. Stir well
13. Voila enjoy your coffee

You could also skip the process of beating the coffee and replace the coffee beans with instant coffee as well so you don’t need a coffee grinder or a coffee filter either. Eatables with this coffee:

1. Almond biscotti
2. Biscuits
3. Cookies
4. Brownies
5. Chewing gum
6. Pancakes
7. French Toast
8. Any form of bread or pastry (such as sourdough, croissant, rolls)
9. Cheesecake
10. Protein Bars
11. Eggs for breakfast

The environment while drinking such coffee is best when:

1. You are working
2. Studying late at night
3. Reading a book
4. Doing something creative
5. Great while writing
6. When friends come over
7. Pulling off an all-nighter
8. While eating breakfast
9. Traveling or driving before a long road trip
10. While listening to calming music

Hope you like this recipe and works out well for you.

As someone who is influenced by movies, books, or sportspeople. I have multiple personality switches, phases, alter egos or give it whatever term that you would tag. I have noticed these phases that I am in and what alter ego that wakes up. Whenever a certain alter ego of mine wakes up I think of an example whom I picture this alter ego with. I may be influenced by these people or maybe these alter egos existed in me but later on, I associated a picture or a certain personality after I started watching their behavior. Whatever the case may be, here are my alter egos.

Jake Peralta:

My funny, goofy, crazy side, full of energy, hyperactivity with a laid-back attitude. Being the life of a party and acting like a total cartoon. All my shenanigans and antics are my inner Jake Peralta which is the fun side of me. Being a total mischievous kid and finding humor and goofiness in most of the things in life. You can see me running around, acting foolish, banter, goofy, dramatic, and imitating people or characters are the most common symptoms. If you notice them, that means my alter ego Jake Peralta is awake and if he is awake then you are going to notice a lot of entertainment. The downside of this is that I can be impulsive. You can notice my inner Jake awakening after a cup of coffee as that makes me charged up and running.

Harvey Specter:

My other alter ego is my inner Harvey Specter. My inner Harvey or the inner Alpha male is the confident, narcissistic, tactical, cocky, logical, and charming side of me. That does not mean that my inner Harvey is bad. In fact, after watching Suits I gained lots of confidence by observing and analyzing Harvey Specter’s behavior. My inner Harvey brings the perfectionist, workaholic, and action-oriented side of me which is extremely motivated with high self-esteem, self-belief, and self-confidence. However, Harvey Specter can have a short temper if something or someone gets on my nerves. If my inner Harvey Specter has awoken then you will notice a lot of action orientation, self-confidence, cockiness, and charm as my symptoms. Not to forget that I refer to a lot of movies and shows.

Jos Buttler:

I have been watching Jos Buttler play for a couple of years now. Apart from his attacking and beautiful stroke-hitting shots, I also witness the calming sense and presence that is in him. If and when my inner Jos Buttler awakens then you will see a very calm, soft-spoken, and gentle side of me. I might as well be as cold as ice. My inner Jos Buttler is the typical good boy that I (try to) portray in school where I don’t speak too much, I am extremely soft-spoken, quiet, focused, and humble. My inner Jos Buttler is the guy who will not worry about the outcome, he will be living in the moment and calmly, quietly focusing on the present, and putting his eye on the process than the result. Most people do not notice this but a few people will see me being soft-spoken, shy, and focused. Buttler gives out that calming aura and I try to stay calm, soft-spoken, and a good boy but that side is being opened up to a small set of people as most people see me as an extremely social, energetic, and goofy side.

Jason Edmunds:

Jason Edmunds, is the main character in the book The Last 21 Hours: A Bullet That Shook The White House. Jason is a tall, black-haired, clean-shaven guy with a tattoo on his deltoid of the United States special forces. He has short hair and constantly wears a black leather jacket and black sneakers. Jason Edmunds is an FBI agent with the code name Oscar Charlie. He works on instinct and always listens to his instinct as he has a very strong intuition. Most FBI agents work on evidence, when evidence is not working in Jason’s favor then he follows what his instinct says. Just like Jason, I too have a very strong instinct, a strong intuition about the next thing that could happen. Jason drives crazy on caffeine and rock music. Jason is a macho, fearless, and calculative FBI agent who does not waste a second on thinking. Which is why he is very impulsive. Jason is inspired by action movies which is what made him join the FBI. He quotes action movies and always grooves to rock music just like I do. In any situation, he will either quote an action movie or come up with a one-liner. Just like Jason, I groove to rock music and I always feel that I am on an FBI mission doing crazy stunts, jumping around everywhere, being impulsive, and instinctive, and also having an obsession for sneakers.

The Actual Chinmay:

I am not my own alter ego. You will definitely notice my most original self for at least half of the day. The original Chinmay is full of life, very happy, sensitive, caring, chivalrous, extroverted like I know everyone, articulative in my thoughts, a brilliant writer, handsome, with great culinary skills and a deep level of intelligence, a mind-blowing memory where I most certainly do not forget birthdays, honest, with knowledge and brilliance like an extremely deep lake. I always like to see the positive side in other people and that is the real me. If I wanted to describe myself in a sentence. Then it would be a caring being who talks to you like he knows you and writes like he paints his imagination.

Thank you so much for reading!

It has been two months since I watched Top Gun: Maverick and four years since I watched the first part for the first time. After watching both those movies my obsession with those two movies has regrown like a seed germinating into a plant. An 11-year-old Chinmay had watched Top Gun for the first time and 4 years later I watched Top Gun: Maverick which I must say is the best movie of the year and the best sequel ever made. Both movies have a commonality which has become a teenage boy’s dream. I don’t know about others but in this case the teen boy is me.

My excitement peaked when I saw the protagonist Maverick Mitchell (played by Tom Cruise) being one of the characters that I would imagine to be. There are multiple reasons why Top Gun is a teenage boy’s dream:

Fast Motorbikes:

Tom Cruise riding swiftly fast and extremely cool-looking black motorbikes in both the movies is very fascinating. Especially the scenes in both the Top Guns where he races against the fighter jets is something that I as a teenager would love to do and is a part of my bucket list to race against a plane or a fighter jet while being on a motorcycle which is a Top Gun-like dream for me. I am not promoting rash driving but the scenes where Tom Cruise rides his motorbike at rapid speed are so thrilling and jumpy when you watch him do that and when Tom Cruise as Maverick does those stunts with a fighter jet even a teenage boy would fantasize about flying a fighter jet like Maverick, however, the pilots have an intense journey of training but as a teenager watching Top Gun I would fantasize myself in the shoes of Maverick doing crazy stunts with a fighter jet as a naval aviator.

Fighter Jets:

Another reason why I am fascinated by the Top Gun franchise is because of the fighter jets. However, more than the fighter jets I am fascinated by the aeronautical movements and stunts that make me sit on the edge of the seat and bite my nails. As Maverick says in the Top Gun sequel ‘It is not the plane, it is the pilot’. I am more delighted with the way how Maverick does the movements with his jets like riding the plane upside down in the beginning scenes of the first Top Gun and such stunts are what make it interesting to watch. Both the movies have this swiftly maneuvering flying sequence and when you watch the movies even you would feel like you are sitting inside a fighter jet. The planes take off in the beginning scenes of the two movies with the song Danger Zone by Kenny Loggins and later on during the climax when the Top Gun theme composed by Hans Zimmer and Harold Faltermeyer is being played in the background making it even more exciting and jumpier.

Cool Jackets and Aviators:

The cool leather jacket customized in a pilot style and black aviators look very cool and also carry the sense of Maverick’s swag. Anyone would look so cool in the black aviators and the pilot-styled leather jackets and I love to be in this kind of a look that is extremely cool, and extremely stylish and it speaks confidence just when someone wears it.

Super Cool Callsigns:

Maverick, Iceman, Goose, Rooster, Viper, Hollywood, Warlock, Fanboy, Payback. Such call signs are genius call signs that one would like to have. I have been wanting to have such kind of a call-sign. When Top Gun Maverick came out, I searched up a site that was the callsign generator with fun questions and my callsign turned out to be Stallion, a mighty, beautiful horse. Considering my tall height, I pretty much feel that the callsign ‘Stallion’ suits me. I got my friends to get a callsign generated for them on that site and now I tend to call them by their callsigns now. The reason why call signs are mentioned in Top Gun is that the call sign tradition is celebrated by aviation communities across all military branches. These pilot nicknames can quickly identify an aircraft or individual, and they also help to confuse the enemy, who might be listening in on your communications. For a teenager like me, hearing those callsigns of pilots over and over again through the course of the movie made me feel so cool and I too felt like having a callsign which is Stallion.

Cool One-Liners:

The one reason that I love Top Gun is because of the music and also because of the cool, witty yet meaningful one-liners in the movie. These one-liners can be pretty much used in real life and I know them by heart. For instance, if I did something that was a little stupid (or way stupid) but I saved myself then I would refer to the song reference that Goose referred to ‘Goodness, Gracious, Great Balls of Fire!’ which meant that I did something stupid yet incredibly gutsy. And let’s say that I am too lazy or too scared or nervous to do something then Maverick’s one-liner from Top Gun Maverick hits me which is ‘Don’t Think. Just Do.’ This dialogue should be tattooed because this is one dialogue that is my motto and I live by it (well most of the time). When I score well in my tests or if I play cricket well then I say ‘I feel the need. The need for speed.’ If my dad notices me not studying, and I tell him that I will get good grades then he says exactly what Maverick’s commander said in the first movie ‘Son your ego is writing checks that your body can’t cash.’

These are the reasons why Top Gun is one of the movies that I look up to.

Hope you like both movies. If you haven’t watched it then go watch it right now! Don’t think, just do.

Signing off,

Stallion.

What did you do over the weekend? A question some teachers ask and I wonder what have I done, I must’ve done something considering the fact that I can’t sit in one place doing absolutely nothing. A long weekend this week and I assume that the teachers on Tuesday will ask this question, a thought crossed my mind of what would an ideal weekend be like for me. I kept thinking, gathering my thoughts. Excluding the classes side of it which I would not want to be a part of the ideal weekend I imagine, here is what an ideal weekend for me would be like. I would also exclude the part where my parents remind me for doing my homework or doing the usual chores.

So here is how I would want my ideal weekend to be: Waking up late in the morning when the sun shines to wake me up. I brush my teeth (obviously) and after brushing my teeth I sit in the living room reading a book in the morning which could be of any genre be it a thriller, non-fiction, or a book I read in the past. I have my favorite breakfast which is either eggs on toast, a heavy English breakfast, or a stuffed aloo paratha floating with butter (too many carbs!). It still goes incomplete without having a cup of chai or coffee. My ideal weekend is incomplete without at least one cup of coffee and it could be one in the morning or in the evening or both in the morning and the evening.

Later on, after having a heavy breakfast, I grab my guitar and begin to strum in a bunch of chords and sing the songs I know the chords of. Then I go downstairs with my bat to play cricket with my friends. Each of us writes down five names of batsmen and bowlers and if in case we have a left-hander then we have to switch our non-dominant hand to bowl or bat. In my case, I have this problem when it comes to having a right-hander to bat. I understand that I am digressing from my ideal weekend but this happens every weekend’s cricket so here are the left-handed batsmen I use in my imaginary team: Adam Gilchrist, Ishan Kishan, Yuvraj Singh, Ben Stokes, David Miller. Of course, we are absolutely nothing compared to these players but it is just a part of having fun. Playing cricket in the building goes on until you get hungry enough to have lunch.

When I come home after hours of sweating and enjoying cricket in the sun I take a shower and after that I play with my dog. Playing with her is always a delight until she gets bored. I eat my lunch which could be a pizza or pasta along with a brownie and a red velvet cheesecake. This is what I would imagine my ideal weekend to be like as I get to cheat on my diet. I take a small nap or watch something on the TV or listen to a podcast. Sometimes, if my creative side of the brain is awake then I start writing my novel or I write the next post for this blog, as I am doing right now. Soon then the evening comes when the sun sets, I sit on the sofa near the windowsill with some calming, relaxing and chill music as I sip the cup of coffee that I make.

The surrounding is very calming, this gives me an opportunity to jot down in my journal of the good things that happened this week and what am I grateful for which sparkles a smile on my face. I grab my sneakers, my headphones and my hoodie heading out for a jog in the evening and playing the special playlist that I groove on to which is a mix of songs that bring me joy, calmness and energy. Each song makes me smile and makes my sneakers take an extra step. Jogging with music on really helps me gain perspective on some things, it helps me be truly grateful and thankful for living a good life or the good memories I have had in the past 15 years of my life. Jogging becomes an excuse for me to rewind through some positive memories I have had in the past.

After coming back from a beautiful yet fit jog, I head to the bathroom for a long hot shower to take my sweat away (not a song reference). The warm shower on an ideal weekend is one of the things that gives me a lot of comfort. I cannot stay the whole night in the shower so I have to get out of the bathroom changing into my clothes. I have my ideal dinner which is healthy, nourishing and warm enough to comfort me into a good night’s sleep. A warm bowl of khichdi made by my mother or sister (I must learn the recipe from them). After a beautiful dinner I read a book, I browse through my apps on the phone while having another brownie (yes you must’ve realize by now that I love brownies) and then I close my eyes to end this beautiful day I have had.

Thanks for reading and I hope you also get your ideal weekend!

As a writer with a published novel and writing another one. I have realized what gets me into the zone of writing a novel and it is not just one certain thing. It is an entire environment that helps me and energizes me to write. I don’t want to sound as if I have the experience of what it is like to write a book as it has been six months since my first novel had been published but I would like to share the happy or the charged-up environment that I have observed while writing which makes me happy.

Any time of the day when my brain gets the idea to write something. I open the laptop flap and switch on the golden-yellow lamp lights. I tell Alexa to play the playlist that I have made specifically for writing. There is a big, warm cup of coffee specially made by me that charges me up but also comforts me. The music is being played on the speaker which has set the mood for writing with my favorite songs that get me into the groove. As I write, I can visualize what is happening as I type in a couple of words while writing. I take a sip of my wonderful coffee which adds more fuel to my brain to boost up my imagination.

The entire moment is beautiful, this is the reason why I enjoy writing more than anything else. It gives me peace of mind and calms me down, makes me happy, and makes me smile. As I get into writing, I ignore everything. My phone is not with me while writing there is no other tab unless and until there is some research that I am doing there is no social media, no YouTube, no Netflix because as much of an oldie I may sound, these are distractions that take my creativity away from me. To be honest, writing is surely a lonely process and it can get boring. But if you have the company of a writing playlist and a good hot cup of coffee then it is definitely not a lonely process at all.

PS: My writing playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7IjEPbGB4y2noQxPzbD1JO?si=9df9d27bb205475b

If you haven’t read my book, can buy my book on Amazon and please write a review when you get the time. Happy reading! 🙂

The Amazon link: https://www.amazon.in/Last-21-Hours-Bullet-Shook/dp/1684946387/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1I6E2DE3YMMTX&keywords=the+last+21+hours&qid=1659851292&sprefix=the+last+21+hour%2Caps%2C345&sr=8-1

It had been two long years since my friends and I met. When the world went online, the non-virtual interaction faded away. Then one fine day our friend Rudraksh left the school and shifted to Bangalore. Cut to two years later, the second week of the month of July 2022, my friend Rudraksh surprises me by video calling me and saying ‘Yo Chinmay I’m in Pune!’ I was so surprised and shocked when I reacted to that. I made a plan on the spot for Rudraksh and two other friends of our gang to come over to our place for fun as we were meeting after a long time. The next day, Tarun,Mrugank, Rudraksh, and I were going to spend the best 7 hours. Mrugank and Rudraksh came in and we started playing a game of Risk the board game. Tarun turned up an hour late. We ordered pizzas and sodas and ended up having an entire feast that day. We watched 2 movies and little did we know that it was time up. Then we decided to have a sleepover instead of leaving them stating the matter that ‘It is quite unsafe for all my friends to go home.’ My parents did not waste a second in saying yes but now it was important for us to convince my friends’ parents. They too had no issues in having an impromptu last-minute sleepover request at the 11th hour.

We then decided to watch 2 standup comedy specials and after that, we prank-called a few people with our phones. It was a lot of fun. Later on, we had a long chat with coffee about some interesting conversations, anecdotes, and life updates. It was an excellent all-nighter. We watched three movies and 2 standup comedy specials in a matter of 21 hours. Then later in the morning we ding-dong ditched a few doors in the nearby building. That completely felt like an Ocean’s Mission where we rang a few doors and swiftly scampered away from that floor. We did not sleep even for an hour. We all had dark circles and our eyes were about to close but more than that. We ate a lot of food, did a lot of mischiefs and had a lot of fun!

20th April 2022. I woke up early and excited as always. For the past 2 years, I was unable to celebrate my birthday because of the pandemic and I was missing out on celebrating with friends. I decided to bring a cake to school and cut it and enjoy it with friends. The whole day I felt as if I was the king of the world. Hanging out with all my friends in school and enjoying the day was something I had not experienced for a while. I finally got the opportunity for this and I am extremely grateful for that day.

After coming back from school, I spent time with my family. I enjoyed every moment of my birthday without worrying about tomorrow. As I came back from school, the happy memories of all the trips, banter with friends, and moments with family flashed up in front of my eyes that bringing a smile to my face. I said to myself ‘I am going to be myself from now onwards.’ I was extremely grateful for all the wishes and all the fun I had that day.

Three days later, I went out with a few of my friends for lunch as a part of my belated birthday celebrations my friends insisted I make a plan and celebrate my birthday considering the madness of the past 2 years that has kept the celebration away.

I am extremely happy and I would like to thank everyone who was there with me.

Book trailer of The Last 21 Hours: http://Book trailer of The Last 21 Hours: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AulIzxezix4

Order the copy on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Last-21-Hours-Bullet-Shook-ebook/dp/B09QPZR14N/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1E759VNZ34EE3&keywords=the+last+21+hours+chinmay+patgaonkar&qid=1643453847&sprefix=the+last+21+%2Caps%2C363&sr=8-1

The Last 21 Hours: A Bullet That Shook The White House, is a nail-biting, fast-paced thriller that shows the Vice-President taking over the presidency after the brutal assassination of a sitting president. To find the assassin, an FBI agent is assigned to take any call whatsoever to ruthlessly destroy the perpetrator. This book will make you sit on the edge of your seat till the end of it. It has a climax you may not have thought of and a traitor on the inside you never expected.

The story is divided into two parts. From Chapter 1 to Chapter 27 the new President tries to stabilize the country and bring in official governance as the assassin is on the run. From Chapter 28 to Chapter 50, the government and the FBI race against time to save the country as the threat towards the government grows exponentially.

The new President and his security team plan to do their best and make sure that this crisis is resolved as soon as possible. FBI’s best agent, Jason Edmunds, and his team have a huge responsibility to find the conspiracy behind the assassination of the President and try to prevent another assassination on President Harrison. Meanwhile, there is a group of people called ‘The Big Wave’ that plan to destroy the entire US government with contacts in the government itself and with contacts in the entire world.

By every chapter inside the book, the President’s life slides on thin ice as their level of danger increases with the Big Wave coming up with dangerous attacks that will destroy the entire country, entire government as well as the US President. There are several attacks that are about to come and the FBI will do its best at shielding their President from danger.

In a matter of two to three weeks time. The Big Wave is making more moves ruthlessly, dangerously, and smartly. The United States Government is about to wage a war against the Big Wave. For that, the FBI will have to race against time to save their president, their country, and their government from a sinister conspiracy that will break the entire nation in a matter of weeks to come.

Hello Readers! Since the IPL has ended and the T20 World Cup has begun, I have resumed my obsession with the sport cricket. I thought that I must write something related to cricket and I thought of talking about my favorite cricketers that made me love the sport even more. Watching all these cricketing legends is quite fun to watch yet there is one thing that I also take away from each one of my heroes. Do tell me your list of cricketers or any sportspersons in the comments.

1. Sunil Gavaskar

Sunil Gavaskar a.k.a Sunny Gavaskar (played from 1971-1987) is someone whom I consider as one of the best batsmen of all time. Back then, when Gavaskar played cricket, there were no helmets, powerplays, limited bouncers, etc. Sunil Gavaskar wore a white Panama cricket hat and started playing. In fact, the then bowlers were extremely tall and they could bowl multiple bouncers which scared the batsmen. The batsmen’s t-shirts were smudged with the bouncers they faced by the tall and bulky bowlers from the West Indies. Another fun fact I heard about Gavaskar was that a day before he debuted, a small ice cube created a problem inside Sunil Gavaskar had asked a teammate to pour a pitcher of ice-cold water down his throat at the end of a grueling training session. A small piece of ice got lodged in a tooth cavity, starting off spasms of excruciating pain that dogged him throughout the match. This means whenever I am doing something and I am in pain then I will remember Gavaskar’s ice-in-tooth story in such situations.

2. Sachin Tendulkar

Now if I am talking about my favorite cricketers, then how can I not forget the God of Cricket, Sachin Tendulkar (played from 1989-2013). Sachin Tendulkar for me is not just a god but a cricketing superhero as well. I look at his elegant and classy batting styles like his backfoot straight drives, cover drives, flick shots. Tendulkar being another short-heightened batsman like Gavaskar also happened to defeat the tallest and the strongest bowlers in the world. When Sachin played the second test of his cricketing career. His nose was destroyed by a bouncer bowled by Waqar Younis who was a dangerous fast bowler from Pakistan. His white-colored cricket shirt was covered in blood, the Pakistani players sledged him to go back as he was too young to play since he was just 15 years old and even the teammates suggested that he should go back to the pavilion and come back after a few wickets. The Master Blaster Tendulkar stood on the pitch saying ‘Main Khelega’ (‘I’ll Play’). After wiping off the blood, Sachin Tendulkar scored 57* runs not out. The two key takeaways from Sachin Tendulkar would be to be humble no matter how great you are as a player and the second one would be to be tough and never give up just like he never gave up during Waqar Younis’ bouncer.

3. MS Dhoni

Mahendra Singh Dhoni or MS Dhoni (played from 2004-2019) is someone that I consider to be the greatest captain of Indian cricket as he is the one and only captain to bring India to win the T20 World Cup of 2007, the 2011 ODI World Cup, and the 2013 Champions Trophy. Whenever I see Dhoni on-field during any of the India matches or the IPL matches, he looks extremely calm, composed, and chilled out, and after a few moments, you see Captain Cool finishing off the match. I will never forget how Dhoni finished off India vs Bangladesh Semi-Final with the run-out after an almost no-win situation. One more thing that I appreciate about him is that when his team loses he walks in the front and takes responsibility for it and when his team wins, he doesn’t take the whole credit and walks behind the team during a victory. One takeaway from MS Dhoni would be to stay calm and stay cool.

4. Yuvraj Singh

Yuvraj Singh (playing from 2000-) is my favorite left-handed batsman. I always enjoyed his hard-hitting batting style and his style of hitting those shots was extremely fun to watch. I do remember hearing that Yuvraj Singh batted and bowled through the entire 2011 world cup while having cancer and ended up winning Man Of The Series for the 2011 World Cup. And how to not forget his 6 sixes, even though I was a baby when this happened but even when I watched that 6 sixes masterpiece, I am in that hype thinking that the 6 sixes moment is happening in front of me. Just like Yuvi, I always try to think that I can face any tough situation. In fact, whenever I have a math exam, the day before is spent watching Yuvraj Singh’s 6 sixes in a row which gives me the confidence to give the math exam without fear. For the upcoming exams that I am going to have, I will spend 5 minutes watching the 6 sixes.

5. AB De Villiers

AB De Villiers (played from 2004-2018) was a former South African captain and player, AB De Villiers still plays the IPL for the Royal Challengers Bangalore which means that it gives me more chances to watch Mr. 360 bat. AB De Villiers holds the record for the faster century, half-century, and the quickest 150 in international cricket. The reason is that when ABD walks on the field, he looks like he has no fear of getting out and hitting the ball and is waiting to hit the next ball. I also like the fact of how he has fun with his kids or how he has fun with his teammates after every game. My takeaway from De Villiers is to simply stay confident and play your A-game without any fear of failing.

6. Brett Lee

Brett Lee (played from 2000-2015) was a former Australian fast-bowler. Lee is still my favorite bowler and I always try to attempt his crazy ultimate yorkers every time I play cricket. I always watch Brett Lee’s bowling whenever I feel bored, just for the sake of entertainment and I always wondered how this man could bowl at the speed of 160 kilometers per hour and how could he take 300+ international wickets. Besides the sporting aspect, I am envious of Brett Lee’s clever and witty sense of humor that makes him goofy and funny as a person.

7. Ben Stokes

Ben Stokes (playing from 2011) is my favorite all-rounder ever. Just like Stokes, I too am a left-handed batsman and a right-arm fast-bowler. Whenever there was an India vs England match, I waited to watch Ben Stokes and others like Jonny Bairstow, Jos Butler, and Joe Root. I was looking forward to Ben Stokes’s bowling and batting all the time. And I obviously could not forget how he became the World Cup hero for England in 2019. Ben Stokes will be one of my favorite all-rounders of all time ever.

8. Virat Kohli

Virat Kohli (playing from 2008) is my favorite batsman ever. He may look aggressive on-field but at the end of the match, he is the post-match-gentleman. I look up to Virat Kohli for his dedication to fitness. Getting low runs to getting the highest runs requires a lot of mental determination and that is why I look up to him. I also try copying Virat Kohli’s flick shots, backfoot punches, and excellent cover drive. Virat Kohli is my favorite batsman ever and I like his quick pace while running between the wickets.

These are my favorite cricketers. I have learned a lot of them and I also have tried imitating their cricketing shots. Hope you liked this blog and I am sure you might have some of your favorite cricketers that match in this list

Thank you and stay safe

-Chinmay