A Review of Medicine Intake, Homies and a Book amid Diwali Festivities

It's Diwali time.

I'm not a huge fan of Diwali.

I have been using my Fluticasone furoate nasal spray more often for the past few days. I had almost abandoned using it for good after coming to IITB. 

The diya I placed outside my window. My nasal spray is silhouetted against its light on the other side of the window.

But this Diwali, my allergies have triumphed.

Diwali is for all of our senses - the sight of diyas and colourful lights, the sound of songs (and an acceptable decibel of fireworks), the taste of sweets and murukku and the touch of rich, silky outfits. But one stimulus has been most dominating - the smell of smoke from firecrackers.

My friends caught up over video call yesterday and given the Cool Nerds we are, we started competing over whose place had the best AQI. Swetha was winning with an AQI of around 80 in Howrah, WB. Chris followed in tow with 90 in Hyderabad, TL. I was frowning at the 200 in Powai, Mumbai. But I guess Mahesh is the overall winner although we don't know the AQI at his village Omalur, in Salem, TN.

I pondered over this uselessly, while trying to study Aerosol Technology. I found the mention of an interesting book called Particle Atlas in the Hinds (1999) textbook and marched to the Central Library to have a look.

Initially, I wasn't able to find it but the able book-hunting technique of the Librarian, which involved knowing just the call number of the book led me to two volumes of Particle Atlas. He didn't even ask the title of the book, just the call number.

I paged through the Particle Atlas by W.C. McCrone and J.G. Delly, while dust particles from between the pages of Particle Atlas flew at me. 

Unsurprisingly, they wafted into my nose and made me sneeze in the silent reading room.

Some photos:

Thunder is one of my favourite sounds. It is so powerful, and unstoppable. Thunder gives me the feeling of the past and its flaws breaking and getting destroyed for good. The accompanying rain makes room for better things to come.

I heard thunder rumbling when I was walking to the Library. The thunderstorm started when I was in the Library, reading the Particle Atlas.

Even though I wasn't carrying my trusty umbrella, I was glad.

It was only drizzling lightly when I walked back to H15. Now it felt like a festival of lights, not a celebration of pollution. 

Happy Diwali!