Coffee, family and monsoon: Fun things to read online

Aishwarya A
Jun 19
2 min read

Updated: Aug 19

So monsoon has more or less engulfed our sub-continent, making it cosy enough to curl up with a book. Here's a roundup of fun (and serious) things that happened over the week.

It’s been a minute. All that pampering at home and the permanent overcast and rain in Bangalore are making me lazy. Anyway, here’s a list of fun things to read online this week:

I coloured my hair red. Not a ferocious, rebel, fiery kind of red (because I am not 16!). But a tasteful, understated type of red that is appropriate for my age. I remember being fascinated with red hair ever since I watched this coming-of-age show for millennials:

A TV character with red-streaked hair lounges in an old photo of a cult-classic Indian TV show from the 2000s — Courtesy: Remix, Star One

I want to unsee this. But it’s kinda important that we see it. Never meet your heroes’ wives

I believe in the world being half-terrible:

Text reads: Good Bones by Maggie Smith. The poem discusses life's brevity and beauty hidden beneath its harshness, with a reflective tone. — Source: The Poetry Foundation

As a long-time member of the unhealthy self-critiquing club, I find this video very useful. It made me question the critic’s authority and somewhat diminish its power.
After seven years of using dating apps, I decided in 2025 that it was not worth it. It has dehumanised relationships and made a mockery of companionship. I am not sure how much of Hinge’s new strategy can salvage online dating.
On a related note, I watched Materialists. It pares down modern match-making/ dating to its bones.
Male politicians and plastic surgery. If you think about it, weren’t the original influencers? Influencing people into mass hysteria, violence, and divisiveness? But now they want to look youthful while doing it. Earlier, politicians, lawyers, judges and consultants always had this fear that if they looked too young, no one would take them seriously because in these professions, it was their years of experience and practice that counted.