Dark academia

VAN GOGH ART

Are you bothered by your cosmic insignificance?

Do you mourn for a place or person you’ve never known?

Do you really think there is somebody for everybody?

Do you place any value in gender roles?

Do you have to be related to be family?

Are your platonic relationships just as valuable as romantic or family ones?

Are you in love? Do you want to be?

Do you think you can put love into categories (family, platonic, romantic, etc.) or is it just one general sensation?

Would you be happy with a life without romance? 

Are you always going to be a little in love with somebody?

Would you change your appearance if you could?

Do you have the feeling you’ve lost something you might have had in another life - whether it be a person, a place, a world, a language, etc.?

Do you believe in reincarnation?

Would you want to be reincarnated?

Do you think you’re special, or just another person amongst billions? Can you be both?

Do theoretical ethical debates have any value? Is it important people discuss ethical dilemmas, e.g. the trolley problem?

Did you have imaginary friends? Do you still have them?

Are you religious? Do you think your religion is ‘correct’?

If you aren’t religious, do you wish you were? Why?

Do you want a grand adventure?

Do you have somebody, whether it be a friend or stranger, who you think you could have loved if the circumstances were different?

How long does it take you to fall in love with somebody?Is the sensation of ‘falling in love’ or ‘being in love’ better?

Is love about convenience or something more? Can it be about both?

Do you think you really understand your gender and sexuality?

How fluid is your concept of gender and sexuality?

What’s the most life-changing choice you’ve made so far?

Are you afraid of growing old?

Would you want to live forever? How about for a billion years, a million, a millennium, a century?

Do you believe in some form of god/s?

Are your choices fated or of your own free will?

Do you have a hunch about how you’re going to die?

Do you believe in star signs?

How old do you have to be to be considered an adult?

Was your childhood happy?

What are you missing from your life?

Have you ever met someone who had a very similar personality to your own? Did you get along?

Do opposites attract?

Is your life what you expected it would be five years ago?

Do you know what you want out of life?

What makes a person ‘good’? Are you a ‘good person’?

What fundamentally matters do you?

Is freewill an illusion?

Do you create art? How do you define art?

How often do you lie? Is all lying inherently bad? Are you generally truthful?

Do you want to be remembered after your death? What for?

Is true world peace ever possible?

Do you have to suffer to truly understand the human condition? What is the human condition? How can you really experience it?

Are you free? Will you ever be? Can anyone be truly free?

Do you hold yourself to higher standards than you hold others?

What do you expect from a friend or partner?

What question could you ask to find out the most about a person?

Do you justify all your beliefs or have you just inherited/absorbed some?

Which beliefs do you have that is most likely to be wrong?

Can human really understand the complete nature of the universe, space and time?

Is a conscious what makes someone a person?

What do you think about artificial intelligence?

Do you thinks humans are obsessed with escapism (books, video games, movies, etc.)? Are you looking for an escape? Do you think that’s a bad thing?

Are we eventually going to ‘run out’ of new combinations for music, art, language, etc.? Is there a limit to human creativity?

What do you think the next era of music will be like?

What do you think the next era of fashion will be like?

Do we live in tumultuous times, or do they just seem so strange because we’re living in them?

Would you want to meet a clone of yourself? Would you like them?

How confident are you, really?

How consistent is your perception of time?

What age should people be allowed to vote? Should children and teenagers be allowed to vote?

How do you feel about the idea ‘an eye for an eye’?

What’s the worse thing a person can be?

How do you feel about monogamy?

Can you be in love with someone and still fall in love with someone else?

What’s the tragedy of your life?

Would your life make a good play?

Should people be prosecuted for crimes that weren’t considered crimes at the time?

Would you fight for your country? Do you feel a sense of loyalty to your nation?

Do you believe in gender equality in every aspect?

Do we have a moral obligation to care for others? To what extent?

Do you crave approval and/or praise?

Is there comedy in all tragedy and tragedy in all comedy?

Are you ever going to be satisfied?

When you are sad, do you listen to music that conveys your emotions or music that makes you happy?

Is your music organised by mood or sensation or do you just listen to everything at any time?

Would you marry a friend if they needed you to (e.g. for citizenship)?

Are you a deep person?

Given the chance to live your life on Mars, with no hope of returning to Earth but with the promise of scientific discovery and glory, would you take it?

Are you who people think you are?

Do you think you would be happier if you had been born a different gender, sexuality, race, ethnicity, nationality or religion?

What’s your toxic trait? Are you trying to improve yourself and fix it?

Do you anger easily?

Are you a jealous person?

If you lost all your memories, would you have the same personality?

Given the chance to reset your life (with none of the knowledge you currently have), would you take it?

Is hate as strong as love? Who do you hate?

Do you speak multiple languages? Which do you dream in? What language would you want to learn?

Do you draw meaning from your dreams, or do you disregard them?

How would you describe yourself when you love? Do you love forcefully, unconditionally, gently, quietly, desperately?

Is unrequited love real love?

Is your perception of yourself similar or the same to how others perceive you?

Are you overly analytical?

Do you ever feel that you are really a terrible person, and only act good out of societal or some other obligation?

Do you believe in magic? Are you superstitious?

Pulling an all - nighter fueled by a herbal concoction that is one of your family recipe.

Discussing literature with your friends on zoom call over a cup of masala chai and Parle - G.

Having an enviable collection of jumkas.

Visiting the libraries (with appropriate precautions), museums, art galleries, ancient buildings and temples.

Studying in the temples/gurudwaras (if permitted, with due respect and measures). The dhoop-batti infused tranquility transporting you to the ancient times.

Lightening up an agar-batti or a dhoop-batti because scented candles are a bit too expensive and you're broke from buying that recent stack of books.

Draping a shawl that you borrowed from your parent's/grandparent's collection on cool winter months. Feeling like a royalty everytime it flutters with the wind.

Learning a classical language out of sheer fascination.

Reading your notes pretentiously to anyone who's willing to listen.... even if they're your plants/pets.

Getting up super early in the morning to study and feeling like a scholar from ancient times.

Coming up with your own concoction for your favourite beverage but secretly loving the way your mum makes it.

Pairing your Punjabi/Rajasthani Juttis with your every fancy outfit and Kolhapuri Chhappals with your every casual outfits.

Reading The Ramayana, The Bhagwat Geeta, The Vedas, The Mahabharata for the fascination of it or just because you want to!

Mumbling a mantra or a shloka that you used to listen from people around you as a kid, under your breath.

Quoting Ambedkar in your conversations.

Discussing about the ancient Greek, Roman, Norse, Egyptian or Pagan beliefs with your friends or your cousins or anybody who's interested.

Reading about all the scientists and mathematicians from ancient India and thinking about the apparatuses they used to counduct their respective researches.

Putting up the posters of your favourite personalities from the past and sticking tiny notes stating the attributes you find fascinating.

Looking upon the local women who broke the traditional roles and appreciating their valor.

Drinking nimbu-paani/Glucon-D out of the cups reserved for guests and feeling like a royalty.

Sticking up calligraphically written derivations on the walls and desks and the doors of cupboards..... basically any available surface, displaying them like your trophies.

Ditching ridiculously expensive eyeliner for your dadi's homemade kajal.

Swinging your chunni pretentiously everytime you make a valid point in a friendly debate with your "enemy" on whom you've a crush, feeling like a Harry Potter character.

Having a signature attar that announces your presence before you enter.

Downloading banned books and reading them secretly in family functions.

Tucking wild flowers behind your best friends' ear as you braid each other's hair in the school's loo.

Getting into arguments into public transport, in the classroom, on the tea stall and citing relevant points with sources.

Being the "pleasure to have in class" but also "should listen more and involve less into arguments with teachers."

Discussing mantras with your friends and learning new ones together.

Arching one eyebrow and smirking as you listen to an excellent piece of music.

Sharing playlist as you and your love sits under a tree reciting poetries to each other.

Going on a "street food discovery spree" with your friends all the while discussing about the deadly chemical medleys you read about in your chemistry class.

Practicing meditation and yoga as the first rays of sun hit the ground. (taking care of your mental health is a part of aesthetic too)

Borrowing your family heirlooms for special occasions and treating them as your most prized possessions.

Practicing classical dance/music (for people like me, who haven't practiced any and would require to train for a long time for the aforementioned arts, Shankh/conch shell is one musical instrument that is probably the easiest to play and doesn't require any prior training.)

Wrapping yourself in your grandfather's coats and feeling his warmth seep in through that piece of clothing...... also, a slight smell of Vicks.

Visiting the local fair and buying more jhumkas because you can never have enough, tbh.

Listening to Agamani-Vijaya songs as you stroll through the College Street, browsing the books.

Addressing your beloved after the names of uncharted scientists and philosophers.

Dhoti pants and khadi tops are go to summer apparels.

Leaving your crush's favourite flowers in their notes with sweet poetries you wrote for them in the candle light.

Sending magniloquent letters to your best friends and pretending to be pen-pals.

Vibing to Bhatiyali as you walk through the Howrah Bridge, imagining yourself as the protagonist of one of Taslima Nasrin's books.

staying up while holding each other and talking about school

walking into a bookstore hand in hand

letting then wind crash against your trench coats

drinking coffee or tea

rambling about your favourite book

they simply stare at you in awe, wondering how one person can be so amazing

finding love letters in the crevice of your book

being in love with someone who loves poetry as much as you do

gentle kisses on the forehead or cheeks

slow dancing 

sitting in their lap as they finish work

handwritten letters snuck under dorm doors and pressed flowers hidden in books

imagining their soft smiles as you power through a dull lecture 

gently holding them when it gets to much, pressing a kiss to their temple and reminding them of the joy you’ll have after graduation

nicknames after unknown scientist, authors, and poets

reading books together in front of the fireplace

gently holding each others hands as you walk through the streets

painfully cheesy pickup lines

wearing their jacket because they insist it will be warmer then yours

getting so caught up in the relationship that you forget to tell anyone about it

going to see old movies 

the kind of love where you don’t have to say anything, being in each other’s presence is enough

reading classic poetry to each other in the bath