How I got brain rot: Old-school internet and the simpler joys of life

Outside of work hours, the rest of my day is usually spent reading or writing. And truth be told, it gets a bit tiresome at times. I end up living in my head too much – which almost always means getting anxious about things I have no control over. To stop taking myself too seriously, I have kept aside an hour every day for pure brain rot.

This is usually between 7 pm-8 pm, with a cup of tea in my hands. It has turned out to be the most enjoyable hour of my day. I’m an ardent consumer of all sorts of reels but the ones that always bring me great joy are by Hadi Academy, a school in Rampur, Uttar Pradesh, where the students queue up to tell the viewer their favourite food, person, car, or colour.

Sometimes, these young children report on the foods they dream about while at other times, they battle existential crisis as they decide their dream career on the spot.

Their most viral video about favourite foods – with 1.3 million likes on Instagram – is my favourite. The kids screaming “momos!”, “aloo da paratha!” and “baldal!” (burger)...

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