Jashan Takhar Nonfiction Writing Blog

What kind of robot would you like?    At this point in time, this question doesn't hold too much value for me, assuming that the question is talking about robots in the sense of a companion powered by artificial intelligence. This is mostly because I know that if I got any of the existing robots introduced by different tech companies regularly, then sure, it would be interesting at first, but I'm sure the novelty would wear off eventually. None of them do much that would be particularly life-changing for me on a day-to-day basis. On top of that, I don't think I would appreciate going to sleep every day with the last thing I see being a humanoid face perched silently in the corner of my room.     I guess I'm sorry for my boring answer. However, if I was asked this question seven years ago, I would have had a significantly different response. In fact, I'll call in my nine-year-old self to record his reaction.     What kind of robot would I like? What kind of robot wou

Secret Survival Strategies    From the ages four through seven, my biggest fear was undoubtedly tornadoes. It began one day when the local weatherman visited my old preschool to tell us about the dangers of extreme weather. He showed us pictures of all types of possible occurrences from thunderstorms to blizzards, but the one that stuck out to me the most was the tornado. I was captured in a trance by its sheer enormity, terrified, yet marveling at it at the same time. In the picture, a nearby farmhouse looked tiny compared to the huge twister. The weatherman warned us that tornadoes had the potential to destroy entire buildings. If you got caught in one, you could get a “boo-boo.” After the weatherman left, the kids in my class went back to play dinosaurs, but I sat at my seat solemnly, knowing that from that day on my number one mission in life would be to avoid tornadoes.  The same day, I immediately went home and built a pillow fort, reinforcing with the power of masking tape to ma