Reshu Kumar

Have you watched the movie “In Time”, a 2011 Sci-fi Action-packed movie starring Justin Timberlake and Amanda Seyfried along with Cillian Murphy and many others, if you haven’t, you should. In brief, it is about a future where people stop ageing after 25 and in order to stay alive, they have to buy time as a currency, in such a world the rich are almost immortal while the poor barely manage to buy time either through working for it or by borrowing or stealing it. It also shows the stark difference in societies in which the rich lived when the character Will (played by Justin) enters New Greenwich (the richest time zone) while on the run after being accused of murder and is suspected of not belonging there because of his rushed behaviour, and the story goes on. But if we think about it and remove all the science fiction parts, there won’t be much difference between our current society and the one portrayed in that movie. One must ask why you feel like that? Well, I’ll come to that after...

It was a normal day at work, I was working as a cadet onboard a cargo vessel and my chief officer was accompanying me on my scheduled navigational watch, we were in the middle of the ocean and the weather was good, there wasn’t much work at the time so we were just keeping our watch and enjoying the temporary calm weather; suddenly a thought struck my head and I asked my chief officer if he would like his kids to work at sea? To which he replied, “Well I won’t push them for this life... it should be their decision to do whatever they want to do in their life.” I don’t know why I asked that question out of nowhere but after pondering upon my question, I guess he understood my dilemma and that I was indirectly trying to ask him if he considered his life good and worth it. And so, he continued, “I know this life is difficult and honestly, I hate this ship and I hate being away from my children, my family and friends, but I do respect my job. I know when I’m here, I’m responsible for this ...

The alarm rings off your phone, the partially alive you completely submerged in the oceanic comfort of sleep, struggling to push that snooze button to silence that annoying little thing from disturbing your comforting state, somehow managing to shut it off saying, “Just 5 more minutes” and waking up after an hour. More or less our mornings begin like that only until n unless the day comes when the burden of responsibility becomes heavier than the comfort of our bed. Waking up early seems like such an easy task, isn’t it? why then, do we struggle for it every morning? We can come up with a range of answers or excuses. Let’s take another example of “I would reduce my junk food intake and I’ll regularly exercise starting from tomorrow!” and somehow that tomorrow never comes or comes as a weekend. We dwell back on our previous habits with another set of brand-new excuses. So, what is the common problem in all of such issues in our day-to-day lives? One can say it’s the lack of determinatio...

This goes back to 2021, I was lying on my bed in my small cabin onboard a bulk carrier vessel in the middle of the mighty Atlantic Ocean, I’d been away at sea for more than 11 months straight and the time for me to disembark the vessel and to go home was near; Lying on my bed I was reflecting upon my life choices until now, the choice to choose this career in the merchant navy, the choice to leave my home, my family, my friends and live away at sea for months and months. The only question that used to repeatedly come to my mind was if this was really what I wanted to do, or most importantly if this was the most that I could do with my life? I wasn’t quite clear on the answer at that time, it was true I wasn’t thrilled and satisfied with what I was doing and all I wanted at that moment was to get back home and be with my family and do something else.. something that could mean something for me and make me feel that I’ve some purpose in life. Today I’m doing my masters in development, an...