2025 on The Field Blog

Age verification is not privacy-preserving

Tue, 02 Sep 2025 10:00:00 +0530

Governments and regulators, even those who have long supported and encouraged better privacy for digital users, are now pushing for online age verification. In a world that has given businesses an open hand for decades in targeting minors for advertising, they now want to protect them from adult content, gambling, and other content they deem restricted. Who controls such restrictions is itself concerning. Regardless, any age verification (online or offline) cannot be privacy-preserving.

Inspiring a new generation of astronauts

Mon, 18 Aug 2025 10:00:00 +0530

Growing up in the early 2000s, the stories of astronauts Rakesh Sharma, Kalpana Chawla, and Sunita Williams (an American astronaut of Indian origin) were woven into my childhood textbooks. Later, as a teenager, I discovered Ravish Malhotra, another pioneer whose name deserved wider recognition but never received it. After these icons, there has been a long gap. An entire generation of children grew up without any Indian launching into space. The sense of scientific pride associated with human spaceflight faded over the years, even as the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) achieved remarkable success in uncrewed missions, placing satellites and equipment into orbit.

Saddam Hussein’s statue in Firdos Square

Mon, 04 Aug 2025 10:00:00 +0530

In April 2003, Iraqi civilians toppled Saddam Hussein’s statue in Firdos Square, Baghdad. It was one of the many statues around Iraq that were getting destroyed after the fall of Hussein’s 23-year rule. Erected only a year before, in 2002, to celebrate Hussein’s birthday, the statue was just one of the thousands of portraits that reflected his personality cult. Even the Iraqi currency featured his face at the time. United States government officials and journalists claimed the statue’s fall symbolised victory for the US.

Circling back to the echo of emptiness

Fri, 13 Jun 2025 10:00:00 +0530

As has been done multiple times, I have circled back again lately. Not in a literal sense, but emotionally. I have had some incredible new experiences in the recent months and years – moments that should have filled me to the brim. And yet, there is this familiar ache, this kind of hollow space that just… persists.

It is a feeling when you are supposed to be soaring, but you still feel a bit grounded and stuck. And then, you still push through, try new things, meet new people, and open yourself up to different perspectives, and believe it will be different this time, but it is not. Even with all these amazing new puzzle pieces, the overall picture still feels incomplete.

When expectations arrive before I do

Mon, 26 May 2025 10:00:00 +0530

The moment I start to think about doing something new (and mostly important) – a whole squad of expectations bursts onto the scene (like Micah Richards did many times), setting up camp in my head before I have even taken a single step. My brain hitches a ride on a time machine, races into the future, designs the “perfect” outcome and then presents it to me as the only acceptable reality.

The comfort of a postponed problem

Sun, 23 Mar 2025 10:00:00 +0530

There are always big and scary things on the horizon that I do not want to deal with, but you should not be shocked when I say I am really good at that. Like, award-winningly good. And sometimes, it just feels so comfy, like pulling a warm blanket over my head on a chilly winter morning.

Deep down, I know that the thing is not going to magically disappear. It definitely is not going to fix itself, either. Yet, I push it down, and there is this lovely sense of peace for a little while. When the time is right, I will face what I need to face. The world will not end if I take an extra day (or month) to figure things out.

The weight of an unspoken thank you

Mon, 17 Mar 2025 10:00:00 +0530

My head says, “Hey, you should really say thank you for that.” And then… I do not. Soon enough, the moment passes, and now it will be awkward to even say it. And this count of unspoken thank-yous keeps growing, outnumbering the ones I have actually said.

When someone goes out of their way to help me with something, it is a big deal for me—sometimes even life-changing. But they do not even know how much it means because I have not properly thanked them. And every now and then, that little memory pops up, and I feel the weight of regret. Not a huge, earth-shattering sadness, but a quiet one that lingers longer than expected.

The friendships that fade without a fight

Sun, 09 Mar 2025 10:00:00 +0530

Some friendships end without fireworks, and there are no big dramatic showdowns. Just… fading. Like turning down the volume on a song so slowly that you barely notice it going quiet until it is almost silent.

You are close, for a while, really close. Sharing jokes, secrets, and late-night talks that feel like they hold all the answers to the universe (or at least, to our world and its problems).

Unsatisfaction is unsettling

Wed, 26 Feb 2025 10:00:00 +0530

It has been a constant background hum in my life. It is not about being not good enough or perfect. It is just I am never satisfied with what I am doing. The act itself, and not the result of it. Like, never. I would start something I thought I wanted to do, and for a hot minute, maybe a day or two, there is this little spark of… something. But then, poof. It is gone, and the wanting starts all over again.

Existential betterment

Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:00:00 +0530

So, I have been thinking. A lot. Like, really thinking. Do you know those moments when you look down at the phone screen at 3 pm and suddenly wrestle with the big questions? Yeah, those. These are the ones that mostly come these days after scrolling through things on the internet (It is not always on the internet. That is just the space around where I get mine).

I hear people often call it an “existential crisis”. Sounds dramatic. Scary, even. People really do not want to go through it. But what if we flipped that around? What if, instead of a crisis, we saw it as… an opportunity?

Joking my way through… a whole project?

Tue, 11 Feb 2025 10:00:00 +0530

You know, I found this joke in a book once, and honestly, I could not stop laughing. It was that silly-clever kind of funny: “Where do you bury the World Crossword Champion after they die? Six feet down and five feet across.” I went around telling everyone, I liked it that much! Around the same time, I was racking my brain for college project ideas, and then it hit me – crosswords!

It is always crowded

Sun, 09 Feb 2025 10:00:00 +0530

I find it funny that the little quiet corner I spot and start walking towards in this world is always filled with people who have reached before me. It feels like the path less travelled for a while, but then you start walking down that path, looking around, and suddenly… people. Everywhere.

Whenever I really get into something – you know, start digging deep, putting in the hours – it always ends up feeling like I am just bumping into people in spaces that looked empty from the outside. Of course, meeting new ideas and people is life, right? But there is still this little shock sometimes, realising how many folks are already doing similar things and thinking similar thoughts.

Sometimes, let others know

Sat, 08 Feb 2025 10:00:00 +0530

When everything feels overwhelming, and I do not know what to do or who to turn to, I start a blog. Writing has become my way of letting it out, even if I am not saying it out loud in person. I was not born to keep my stories to myself. Of course, you will not find me openly complaining—that is not my style. But between the lines, you will catch glimpses of my emotions among those I choose to share.