The Coochikoo

It's 10 PM. You just got back from a tiring day at work, and your phone buzzes. It’s the class WhatsApp group. The teacher has casually announced: "Tomorrow is the Eco-Friendly Rakhi Making Competition." Panic sets in. Your kid is looking at you with hopeful eyes, expecting you to produce a masterpiece out of thin air. You immediately think of grabbing that shiny plastic rakhi from the nearest stationary shop, tearing off the packaging, and calling it "upcycled." But wait, yaar. We need to talk about the reality of 2026. We Indians celebrate big, but our celebrations are choking the planet. After the festivities end, around 620 million rakhis, mostly containing plastic, are dumped every year. These discarded rakhis are loaded with plastic beads, synthetic threads, glitter, and foam. They end up in landfills or mixed waste, where they can sit for hundreds of years, contributing heavily to environmental pollution. The good news? The country is changing. In places ...

Let's dive into Bhuj. It is a city known for its resilience, its rich history, and right now, its absolutely unbearable heat. Today is June 21, 2026. Across India, parents are sending their kids back to school. But here in the Kachchh region, we are completely stressed out. If you are a middle-class parent raising kids in that energetic 6 to 12 age group, your entire life is built around the school bus schedule. But nature has decided to throw a massive wrench into our plans. Enter El Niño. For Bhuj, an El Niño year means bracing for a hotter, drier, and more prolonged summer, coupled with a highly unreliable monsoon that threatens both water security and agriculture. We are dealing with an intense heatwave that just refuses to leave. Right now, the temperatures in Gujarat are soaring. In Kachchh, the heat has become so unbearable that schools are actively demanding changes to their primary school timings because it is negatively affecting both students and staff. Authorities are c...

Hi parents . Let’s talk about something that is literally making us sweat right now. It is June 20th. Usually, this is the exact time when Kolkata parents are buying new umbrellas, wrapping notebooks, and mentally preparing to drop their kids off to school after the long summer break. But step outside your house in Ballygunge or Salt Lake today. Do you feel the gentle, romantic monsoon breeze? No. You feel like a momo being steamed in a giant bamboo basket. Welcome to the reality of the El Niño effect. If you are a typical Indian parent, your entire life runs on your kid’s school timetable. The morning rush, the tiffin packing, the bargaining with the pool car driver. But El Niño—a climate pattern that causes abnormal warming of the Pacific Ocean—has decided to completely mess with our daily routines. For Kolkata, this global phenomenon doesn't just bring simple heat; it brings extreme heat stress. While our thermometers might not hit the sheer, crazy highs of Delhi, the combinatio...

Hi guys. So, it is June 20th. Usually, this is the exact time when middle-class Indian parents are frantically buying new school shoes, wrapping notebooks in brown paper, and mentally preparing to wake up at 6 AM. For those of us raising kids in that chaotic 6 to 12 age bracket, we all thought the summer break was finally ending. Originally, the state education department even trimmed the vacation down to 35 days, telling us schools would reopen on June 21. But wait. Have you stepped outside in Jaipur lately? You walk out to the balcony, and the loo hits you in the face. You check your phone, and it shows 43 degrees. Boss, that’s not weather; that’s an oven. Enter the El Niño effect. It sounds like a fancy Spanish dish, but it is basically the Pacific Ocean acting up, warming the sea surface, and completely messing up our climate, which for Rajasthan means less rain and a scorching, brutal heatwave. So, what does this mean for our kids? Let me break it down. First of all, simple logic ...

Hi guys. Let’s talk about something that is literally burning us up right now. You wake up at 6 AM, step out to the balcony with your chai, expecting a gentle morning breeze, and boom—it already feels like you are sitting inside a tandoor. Welcome to Delhi summers, supercharged by our new worst enemy: the El Niño effect. Now, if you are a typical Indian parent, your entire life revolves around your kid's school routine. Packing tiffins, negotiating with the auto-wala, and running behind the school bus. But El Niño—a climate pattern that causes abnormal warming of the Pacific Ocean—has thrown a massive curveball at us. It disrupts global weather, and for North India, it means brutal heatwaves that cross 44°C, threatening to break both our ACs and our spirit. Because of this extreme heat, authorities in Delhi and NCR are being forced to rethink school timings. Think about it practically. Do you really want your seven-year-old standing in an open ground for morning assembly at 11 AM w...