Updates

A first year MA student at the University of Hyderabad died by suicide after drowning in Buffalo Lake yesterday morning. Word spread quickly across campus, with many attributing his death to drug abuse. Reports claimed that in the note he left behind, he mentioned a loan intended for his mother’s medical treatment that had instead been spent on drugs. Suicide victims are made fun of and joked about with ease. Suffering is reduced to personal failure. The last suicide on campus took place less than a year ago, and the rhetoric surrounding it was not fundamentally different. ...

Yesterday I slept a pleasant sleep. I had not slept the night before. They had Dosa for breakfast at the mess. It was good. I had established myself on the mattress on the floor and it was around 2 PM I think when I dozed off trying to watch Moonrise Kingdom. The three hour nap like sleep felt heavenly. I had not slept this good in a long time.

Consume an insane amount of coffee. Become irritable anxious sleep deprived angry and sad. Introduce nicotine into the party. Run out of cigarettes. Crave for more. Keep craving. Call random people for cigarettes. There is no exam. Don’t go to the exam. Feel bad about it later. Consume more substances to cope.

Pour boiling water into a cold base. A finer grind leads to higher extraction and a hotter brew temperature due to increased resistance. The lowest stove setting leads to the lowest overall brew temperature, resulting in better coffee. Sputtering is undesirable since it’s a symptom of a higher brew temperature, caused by uncondensed steam passing through the brew. Aim for at least 60% water extraction before the sputtering phase, after which it is recommended to lift the pot from the heat. ...