Sum of Everything

Yesterday, after a spectacularly failed session of trying to record an episode for the podcast, two of my friends, lets call them Z and S, and I went to grab a bite. Now both Z and S, in addition to being experts in their own right in dance, hip hop, ballet, heels, and all kinds of other western dance styles and cultures, are super spiritual homies and deeply rooted in Sanatana Dharma, and that is one of the things I love about hanging out with them.  We started talking about temples, and certain energies of such temples, and Z talked about how he is in the process of writing something about Surya, the Sun God. I mean, here is a guy, with whom I was going to discuss the creative impact of Desi Hip-Hop in his life, talking about writing a treatise on the Sun God. This was literally my favourite kind of crowd to hang with.  Now this man is a master story teller, having the gift of the gab such that when he starts a story, he can keep his audience hooked and hanging on to every w...

Episode Resources Here are the books, images and sounds featured or referred to in S2 E6 of the Sum of Everything Podcast, because the character limit in the show notes was simply insufficient, and I had to come up with a clever way to credit them! Brontë Sisters Collection : https://www.books2door.com/products/the-complete-bronte-sisters-collection-7-books-box-set-charlotte-emily-anne-bronte-adult-paperback Jane Austen Collection : https://www.theguardian.com/books/2025/mar/15/much-darker-than-pride-and-prejudice-authors-pick-their-favourite-jane-austen-novel Sherlock Holmes Collection by Arthur Conan Doyle : https://americanbookworm.com/products/sherlock-holmes-his-greatest-cases-by-arthur-conan-doyle-5-books-collection-box-set-paperback Original Mickey Mouse illustration : https://mouseinterrupted.wordpress.com/tag/mickey-mouse/ Evolution of the Coca-Cola bottle : https://r1creative.net/feed/evolution-coca-cola-bottle/ Coca-Cola bottle silhouette : https://www.resear...

"Heyy"  ( sent 49 minutes ago ) Among the many pet peeves I have, this is probably the most logical one. I genuinely do not understand when people text like this, especially when you are texting someone you are not usually in regular contact with. Clearly, you have something to say, or ask, so just... ask it or say it. Why kill the recipient with the anxiety of trying to figure out what the communication is about? What is even worse though, is when you receive a text from an unknown number with absolutely no context at all... "Hi". That's it. Nothing else. Just, "Hi". How do I know if this is someone I used to know, should know, or don't want to know? Even scammers do better; they at least ask if I want a job right off the bat!  I once got a text from an unknown number... "Hi". I ignored it thinking whoever it is will either introduce themselves or its just not that important. The audacity of this person became apparent when the next day ...

Yesterday was the ARMY pre-sale for some of the South East Asian countries for the BTS Arirang World Tour. Unable to sleep properly, I woke up before my 6 am alarm with palpable excitement and nervousness... only to get no tickets at all... I didn't get tickets at all. Nothing. Not a single one for the 5 shows in two different countries I was trying for. I can barely contain my disappointment enough to write this; considering that I spent the better part of 6 hours crying off and on. Nevertheless I tried again during the Live Nation pre-sale today, and got in the never-ending queue of that blue man walking on what is clearly a treadmill because he didn't move for HOURS - only for me to be kicked out at the absolute last second, because their servers couldn't handle the sheer volume of users trying to secure tickets. When I eventually did get to the purchasing page, even though there seemed to be seats remaining, it didn't allow me to book them saying that seat had been ...

I don't know what to talk about just yet, so I am just going to start writing. It has been an age since I actually sat down to write and put my words down on (digital) paper. I have been trying to journal (on physical paper) regularly, rather unsuccessfully, and most times the culprit is my lack of impulse control when it comes to doom scrolling. I swear I have been trying (not my best, admittedly) to try and not look at my phone first thing in the morning, but the temptation is overwhelming. I know all the cons of looking at the phone as the first thing in the morning. I give myself that lecture everyday, and its usually in my mother's voice. But adult free-will is a very dangerous thing. On the rare occasion that I do end up picking up my journal to do my morning pages, I am often distracted by trains of thoughts that ideally should have made it to the word vomit that the pages are supposed to be dedicated to, but end up simply disappearing into the ether, because my mind wor...

Your favourite artist may be on their way to take down their music from Spotify. If you suddenly can’t seem to find the song you were listening to on Spotify, you may be interested to know that several musicians are in the process of taking down their music from being available on the streaming platform, if they haven't already. Here's Why - 1.       Lowest royalty payout rates for artists – Spotify is infamous in the music industry for being the platform with some of the lowest royalty payout rates for artists. This is particularly important since the payment structure is not a per play per day basis, but on a slice-of-pie basis. Basically, Spotify keeps a percentage of the total revenue it receives and distributes the rest based on the streams generated by the artist on a pro-rated basis. While this appears fair, however, the existence of bot streams (which are ridiculously easy to buy) complicates the matter since bot streams significantly reduce the section of t...