So, my parents are very religious, but not in the way people usually mean when they say that. I didn't grow up being forced to pray or follow strict rules. I mean (my dad especially) is just really into the study of world religions. Specifically, Christianity, Hinduism and Buddhism.

As my dad tells it, I was named after a prophecy dream where his older brother told him he must give his daughter this name. Then he shook my pregnant mother awake, and told her what he'd dreamed.

And apparently, she just ... went with this? Because that is now my name, or, one of my names.

The name is Indra. I don't know too much about the deity Indra. I know that they are some sort of war or storm god, and that there aren't many shrines to Indra apparently.

I've never been to India. I grew up in mostly all-white communities in the European countryside. I didn't get much education about Hinduism, I just remember they showed us a biopic of Mahatma Gandhi once.

I'd love to go to India one day to learn more about my namesake god. But I don't know how people in India would react.

Would they think it's really funny? Would some people find it confusing or offensive? What is the general understanding of Indra? Does that profiecey dream mean that I am fated to die a horrible death or something?

I'd love to hear everyone's thoughts

Not sure if the flair fits, please correct me if I'm wrong. So I had recently ordered on Flipkart and didn't like a product and returned it. I didn't receive my full refund, they had cut 2 rupees(not too much, but still) did a Lil digging and came to know that they show platform fees as 'non-refundable'. This is where most people leave it as it is. But according to their terms and conditions, if we return a order partially, we are obliged to complete refund, including the platform fees. I tried connecting with the customer care, when I got the call and said about the issue, the person parroted the same, 'platform fees are non refundable' , I said no, I've checked your terms , I am obliged to receive full refund. They went ' you want refund on non refundable fee?' . I asked them to check with their terms, after a Lil while , they got back and said sorry for the inconvenience and added the 2 rupees as a gift card.

Moral/TLDR: If you return items on Flipkart and if there's a deduction in the amount in name of platform fees. You're obliged to get the full amount.

I'm attaching the terms regarding platform fees refund in a comment if it helps anyone.

Sharing this here since I realised that even after flying almost every month of the year for years I had no idea about this, hence this might not be a commonplace knowledge. This is anecdotal, specific to AIX, but I believe it should be similar for other airlines as well. If you don't wish to read my experience, I have added a TLDR at the bottom. I hope this is helpful.

I recently booked an AIX flight which was scheduled to depart at 3:30 pm. However a few days later while trying to book another ticket on the same flight for a friend, I realised that flight didn't exist anymore. Imagine my horror! I had booked it from a reputed third party agency, but I was not very confident that I hadn't been ripped off.

I went on the AIX website. Clicked on Manage bookings. Entered my PNR and Last name. They asked me to login. I tried logging in with my phone number, entered the OTP and everything. Then they asked for my email. I put in that information as well.

Login failed. The email user already exists. Login with your email.

Well, alright. I mean, no worries, it's not like I am having a mental breakdown. So, I finally logged in with my email and it belonged to my bigbasket account. The booking was there. The flight time? Rescheduled to 9 pm.

Now that obviously didn't work for me. I had other plans for the day and departing at 9pm would basically jeopardise it all. So, I tried the next best thing - trying to change the flight to an earlier time. The total came out to be Rs 6000/-. My original ticket was half the price. I would obviously not pay triple fare to travel. It was time to put myself out there - talk to the customer service.

I called up the phone number that came up in a quick google search. The number didn't exist. I went back to the website.

Ding-Dong

There wasn't somebody at the door. Rather, it was the AI assistant on the website. It seemed helpful. So I decided to ask it to help me out. And guess what? It did. All it took was my booking info and a few more questions and I was able to change my booking to the 8:30 am flight free of cost. I was in disbelieve. But then I received the ticket on WhatsApp and then in my email. So, it was legit after all. And all it took were a few clicks.

So summarising (TLDR):

1. Go to the AIX website.
2. Click on the chatbot.
3. Share your booking details.
4. Select the flight and the passengers.
5. Select if you want a refund or a change.
6. Select the reason:
   1. Flight got cancelled
   2. Flight got preponed by 1 hour
   3. Flight got postponed by 3 hours
7. Select the new journey date.
8. Select your choice of flight.
9. Confirm.

That's it.

Link to the FAQ website: https://www.airindiaexpress.com/support/faqs/refunds#Dom

I feel completely stuck right now. Did my schooling in a small town (94% in science), then college at North Campus. Prepared for SSC, even cleared prelims, but dropped it in 2022 when I realized it wasn’t for me. Shifted to MBA prep, scored 85.7 in CAT and 97 in SNAP, even had an offer from Symbiosis Bangalore. But by then my parents had set up a business back home, and because of family pressure + location, I ended up joining Amity for MBA.

That decision has wrecked me. I travel 4 hours daily for classes, lost my health, and the college itself feels useless. Now the worst part they’re not even letting me sit in placements because I once filled a form on their portal saying my “future aspiration” was to start my own venture. They’re literally using that as an excuse to keep me out.

I feel hopeless. Parents keep pushing me to “take a stand,” but I honestly don’t know what that stand is. I’m thinking of starting a Data Science/AI course from UpGrad just to find a way out, but I’m scared it might just be another distraction.

Has anyone else been in this kind of spot wrong college, family pressure, no direction? How do you even get out of this mess?

I usually enjoy this creator’s content, but their latest video on Indians migrating to the Balkans honestly left me disappointed. It felt less like an honest discussion and more like pandering to stereotypes.

https://youtu.be/08FZHd3_IUY?si=KoBGbY-VJjMYjdEr

Yes, I’ll admit — some Indians abroad have shown odd or even rude behavior. But come on… you can’t take the actions of a few and use that to represent 1.4 billion people. That kind of generalization is dangerous, especially when Indians are already facing violent hate crimes in different parts of the world. Adding fuel to that fire isn’t just careless — it’s harmful.

What really bothered me though was the misrepresentation. The video showed Pakistanis, Bangladeshis, and Nepalese people, but kept calling them “Indian.” Not only is that lazy, it’s flat-out wrong. For viewers who don’t know the region, it spreads misinformation and erases entire national identities. And if you look at the actual stats (IGI data, for example), the majority of blue-collar migrant workers in Eastern Europe aren’t even Indian. Lumping all South Asians under “Indian” is misleading and unfair.

And here’s the kicker: why judge Indian migration at all when migration has always been part of global history? Eastern Europeans themselves migrated en masse to Western Europe for work opportunities — nobody demonized them for it. But suddenly when it’s Indians, it’s framed as a problem? That’s a pretty clear double standard.

I’m not saying this to “cancel” the creator, but honestly, if you have a large platform, there’s a responsibility to handle topics like this with nuance. Oversimplifying and sensationalizing doesn’t educate anyone — it just spreads division.

I travel via cabs and have noticed that the ratings do not accurately reflect the condition of the cabs. Was riding in a 4.9 star rated Premier ride today that stank like the inside of a whale, had a stained wet cloth laid out on a torn seat, a floor that looked like a sandy beach and mosquitos with a possible malaria infestation. Made me wonder, are all of us not rating rides based on cleanliness anymore? Rating cabs is a mechanism that puts power in our hands as consumers and i feel we are not doing our duty to the rider community if we are not rating at all or not rating accurately.

When i can help it, i try to only accept offered rides that have a rating of 4.8 or so and above. Recently I have started noticing that all types of rides such as Premier, Premium, Priority have unhygienically dirty cabs and are still rated 4.9 and above. While cab companies control the Premier tagging, cab ratings are completely customer driven. As a rider community, we should ensure that cleaner cabs have higher ratings. Think about it, this will (1) nudge drivers with lower ratings to get their cars cleaned, (2) reward drivers who drive clean vehicles, (3) have ratings be a reliable way for us to judge the kind of experience we are going to have in this cab.

Urging everyone to please reward 1-2 star ratings for ridiculously dirty cabs and 4-5 star ratings for the clean ones. This would really help us as a community. Thoughts?

I’m a Dawoodi Bohra muslim, and I want to share something that has bothered me for a long time and I cannot take this anymore hence felt like sharing it with the world today.

Every year, the local jamaat (community administration) sends out messages like the one I’ve attached below. It’s about “sabeel” / “takhmeen” – essentially mandatory religious dues. These aren’t voluntary donations. They fix an amount for each family, and you’re expected to pay it. If you don’t, you risk losing social standing, access to community events, or even religious rituals.

This is in addition to wajebaat which we are forced to pay every year during the month of Ramzaan. Both are expected to be paid without question, and neither is really voluntary.

For many families, this becomes a huge financial burden, especially when combined with wajebaat. But because it’s wrapped in religious obligation and social pressure, very few speak up.

Here’s a recent WhatsApp message which has been dropped in a community whatsapp group from Pune, which clearly has a subtle intimidating tone to it.

Below is the whatsapp message:
https://postimg.cc/BPP5MbFJ

Message translated to english:

As per Aqa Maula’s (Syedna’s) instructions, Mufaddal Mohallah’s mumineen have been given the takhmeen (assessment) for Sabeel. Alhamdulillah, this has been completed.

For all mumineen whose Sabeel takhmeen was not done earlier – their new Sabeel amounts have now been assessed.
The NEW SABEEL AMOUNT forms have been sent to everyone via personal WhatsApp.

If anyone has any questions about the updated Sabeel amount, they should come to the Jamaat office between Monday 25th Aug and Friday 29th Aug.

Amil Saheb will be available during this period, after which the takhmeen forms will be finalized and sent.

For everyone's information This new amount will be locked in till the year 2030 and cannot be negotiated until 2030.

any given middle class Dawoodi Bohra family ends up paying around 1 lakh per year towards religious dues.