Day: October 26, 2022

Why is water important?

Water is inarguably the most valuable biochemical of all. Without water, life would not exist on this planet. While it has a hundred thousand benefits, it can also be a nuisance if not used or managed correctly. However, in this article, we will talk only about the importance of water and its general chemical structure, which makes water, water! 

Water as a major component of the human body:

It is believed that all humans are about 60% water. This includes your blood and all the bodily secretions as well. Water is also a crucial component of cells, typically forming around 70% to 95% of the mass of a single cell — that’s simply startling! It means we depend on water and cannot afford to lose it. Fun fact: losing about 10-15% of the water from your body can be fatal. A loss of 1
5-25% causes death! 

Molecule of water: 

Water is a polar molecule (a molecule with an uneven charge distribution) which has a general formula of H2O. Although it is a relatively simple molecule, water has some wonderful attributes. For example, the hydrogen bonds in water enable it to be strong, and as a result, it becomes difficult to convert water from a liquid to a gas. It requires a lot of energy to do so. By contrast, compounds with no hydrogen bond exist as a gas at average room temperature. 

Importance to Marine life: 

Water provides an ideal environment for all those organisms that reside inside water. Fishes, Crocodiles, Shrimps, Turtles, Sea-horses etc. All these animals (along with many others) survive in water. Their survival is made possible because of the fact that water contains dissolved oxygen, and many other useful minerals, which aid in the growth and development of marine life. 

Importance to humans: 

We all quench our thirst with a glass of cold water every day. However, this is not the only thing water does. Your saliva is made up of water. Some hormones in your body are made up of water. Your tears are made up of water. Some enzymes (a biological catalyst that speeds up a rate of a reaction) are made up of water. For example, synovial fluid in your body is made up of water. Your sweat is made up of water. Almost everything in your body has something to do with water. This makes water an ultimate life-saver (you can sometimes silently say thanks to water, it wouldn’t mind). 

Water as a transport medium in animals and plants: 

Animals need a transport medium to distribute the required elements within no time throughout the body to carry out life processes. Thankfully, animals use blood as their transport medium. Blood is made up of water. Hence, it is safe to say that animals use water as a transport medium. Blood transports oxygen and nutrients. 

As far as plants are concerned, plants also use water as a transport medium. Root hair cells take up water from the soil, and it is then transported throughout the plant with the help of xylem vessels. 

Therefore, drink water, stay hydrated, and keep the water channels pure, for everyone!

Status of India’s Forex reserve.

Until the beginning of this year, the country had saved enough for the rainy day, because of strong capital flows in the past. However, those reserves are depleting fast. India lost nearly $85 billion of its forex reserves in the first half of the fiscal year, the second biggest depletion among major emerging market (EM) peers during the period.

India’s forex reserves were $528.4 billion as of 14 October, the lowest since July 2020, and sharply down from the record $642.4 billion last year. The rupee has crashed more than 10% against the US dollar this year and slipped below 83 for the first time in past few weeks.


To help arrest rupee’s record fall, the Reserve Bank of India has also burned $114 billion from its forex coffer, triggering concerns on this front as well. The central bank has however attributed about two-thirds of the decline to valuation effects. The decline of the forex reserves cannot be solely attributed to a central bank’s intervention to defend the currency against the dollar.

There has been a sharp depletion of forex reserves in the last few months, but what is comforting is India’s high level of reserves that has enabled it to withstand the sharp depletion without any major panic so far. Another comforting factor is the country’s low external debt (20% of gross domestic product) and the short-term debt as a share of total external debt is around 20%.

Status of India's Forex reserve.

Until the beginning of this year, the country had saved enough for the rainy day, because of strong capital flows in the past. However, those reserves are depleting fast. India lost nearly $85 billion of its forex reserves in the first half of the fiscal year, the second biggest depletion among major emerging market (EM) peers during the period.

India’s forex reserves were $528.4 billion as of 14 October, the lowest since July 2020, and sharply down from the record $642.4 billion last year. The rupee has crashed more than 10% against the US dollar this year and slipped below 83 for the first time in past few weeks.

To help arrest rupee’s record fall, the Reserve Bank of India has also burned $114 billion from its forex coffer, triggering concerns on this front as well. The central bank has however attributed about two-thirds of the decline to valuation effects. The decline of the forex reserves cannot be solely attributed to a central bank’s intervention to defend the currency against the dollar.

There has been a sharp depletion of forex reserves in the last few months, but what is comforting is India’s high level of reserves that has enabled it to withstand the sharp depletion without any major panic so far. Another comforting factor is the country’s low external debt (20% of gross domestic product) and the short-term debt as a share of total external debt is around 20%.

My Heart and Other Black Holes- Book Review

DISCLAIMER: This review contains spoilers.

One emerging trend in media is the glorification and romanticization of mental health disorders. As a result of the same, a lot of Young Adult (YA) novels have integrated various mental health issues into their plots while still bearing inaccurate representations as young adults look at these serious issues through rose-tinted glasses. Ofter, it ends on a high note thus masking the dark reality of these problems and wrongly depicting the healing process.

My Heart and Other Black Holes by Jasmine Warga is a transitional piece of literature to me. I find that it balances the scale- it depicts certain aspects of mental health issues that are appealing to young adults through the form of romance while also portraying very dark aspects of depression in a fairly blunt manner.

This book follows the bittersweet tale of two teenagers with traumatic childhoods. Aysel is a sixteen-year-old girl who was raised by her father- however, her father murdered a local boy and she carries that stigma everywhere. She pushes her friends and family away to the point where they barely interact with her anymore. Roman, a sixteen-year-old boy blames himself for his sister’s death and bears the weight of that guilt on his shoulders. Both of them want to end their lives and they become Suicide Buddies through a website. Roman wishes to die by drowning on the anniversary of his sister’s death. They both decide to die together.

Naturally, they begin to fall for each other. Warga artfully depicts the contrast between the thought processes of the two teenagers. For Aysel, all she really needed was to be close to someone again, so meeting Roman helped her heal. Roman, on the other hand, was plagued by guilt and was in his own head which meant that the chances of love changing his thoughts and feelings were far less likely. She showcases this beautifully as we can see Aysel’s determination to take her own life reduce and Roman’s determination to do the same be unwavering. Roman’s final suicide attempt without Aysel shows that he loved her enough to want a good life for her but not enough to live his life. The book ends on an ambiguous note and the readers are left wondering about the uncertain future of Aysel and Roman.

Jasmine Warga displays a clean and slightly poetic writing style throughout the book. The language and narration remain consistent throughout the book. There is clear character development for the main characters and adequate character development for others.

All in all, My Heart and Other Black Holes is a very well written piece of YA fiction. I would highly recommend this book to those looking for a quick yet meaningful read.

Rating:

Rating: 4 out of 5.

My Heart and Other Black Holes- Book Review

DISCLAIMER: This review contains spoilers.

One emerging trend in media is the glorification and romanticization of mental health disorders. As a result of the same, a lot of Young Adult (YA) novels have integrated various mental health issues into their plots while still bearing inaccurate representations as young adults look at these serious issues through rose-tinted glasses. Ofter, it ends on a high note thus masking the dark reality of these problems and wrongly depicting the healing process.

My Heart and Other Black Holes by Jasmine Warga is a transitional piece of literature to me. I find that it balances the scale- it depicts certain aspects of mental health issues that are appealing to young adults through the form of romance while also portraying very dark aspects of depression in a fairly blunt manner.

This book follows the bittersweet tale of two teenagers with traumatic childhoods. Aysel is a sixteen-year-old girl who was raised by her father- however, her father murdered a local boy and she carries that stigma everywhere. She pushes her friends and family away to the point where they barely interact with her anymore. Roman, a sixteen-year-old boy blames himself for his sister’s death and bears the weight of that guilt on his shoulders. Both of them want to end their lives and they become Suicide Buddies through a website. Roman wishes to die by drowning on the anniversary of his sister’s death. They both decide to die together.

Naturally, they begin to fall for each other. Warga artfully depicts the contrast between the thought processes of the two teenagers. For Aysel, all she really needed was to be close to someone again, so meeting Roman helped her heal. Roman, on the other hand, was plagued by guilt and was in his own head which meant that the chances of love changing his thoughts and feelings were far less likely. She showcases this beautifully as we can see Aysel’s determination to take her own life reduce and Roman’s determination to do the same be unwavering. Roman’s final suicide attempt without Aysel shows that he loved her enough to want a good life for her but not enough to live his life. The book ends on an ambiguous note and the readers are left wondering about the uncertain future of Aysel and Roman.

Jasmine Warga displays a clean and slightly poetic writing style throughout the book. The language and narration remain consistent throughout the book. There is clear character development for the main characters and adequate character development for others.

All in all, My Heart and Other Black Holes is a very well written piece of YA fiction. I would highly recommend this book to those looking for a quick yet meaningful read.

Rating:

★★★★