Somethin' Stupid
I've never really understood romantic advances. How exactly are they supposed to work? At what point does someone being nice to you become someone being interested in you? How are you supposed to tell the difference? I suspect that small part of the human brain responsible for detecting romantic interest never fully developed in my case. And I think I have a reasonably good explanation for that. Growing up in a rather conservative society, romantic affection was never somethi
14 hours ago11 min read
Not Gainfully Employed
A career gap isn't a setback. It's an opportunity for growth. Over the past year, I've had the privilege of stepping outside my comfort zone, embracing uncertainty, developing resilience, and acquiring valuable transferable skills. What initially seemed like a period of professional inactivity turned out to be an extraordinary journey of self-discovery, adaptability, and continuous learning. Here are some of the key lessons I've learned and how they've prepared me to bring gr
5 days ago4 min read
Isolation may be kinda chic
I have developed, over the years, a surprisingly sophisticated relationship with chairs. Not all chairs, obviously. I have strong feelings about the one at my desk. I have stronger feelings about my recliner at home.Chairs in rooms full of people, thats a different story altogether. There is a peculiar social ritual involved in entering one of these rooms. You walk in, scan the place, identify the people you know, and wait for that tiny gesture that determines the trajectory
Sep 224 min read
Brain Stew
There are approximately seventeen things I should be writing about right now. There is the strange feeling of watching people I once knew become strangers in real time. There is the absurdity of having spent most of my childhood wanting to grow up, only to discover that adulthood mostly consists of replying to WhatsApp messages, finding misplaced documents, and remembering that some bill is due. There is mortality, obviously. There is love. There is loneliness. There is India
Sep 34 min read
No Time to Die
I’ve spent a lot of time lately thinking about James Bond. Specifically, the title No Time to Die. It’s a great phrase—furious, heroic, suggesting that the protagonist is simply too busy saving the world from a nuclear briefcase or something like that to bother with mortality. My personal relationship with that phrase is slightly different. When I look at the state of the world, my brain doesn't think No Time to Die because I’m busy saving it. It thinks: I literally do not ha
Jun 135 min read
Resignation
Like most days, Ray was about to go to bed with a certain desolate resignation. He had been talking to his family about how he was starting to feel unwell again and he was asked to pinpoint the culprit for his pain. Was it anxiety about futures, exams, or something equally stupid? Was it depression about dying on a dying planet orbiting a dying star? Or was it just all of it? Maybe he had been consumed by doomerism or a similar unspeakable fate, but each passing moment only s
Apr 32 min read
Homecoming
It was during a conversation with a friend at a fancy cafe that I realized the unthinkable has happened: I am homesick for a place I only just left. I have imagined my homecoming many times—hell, I lived for it—but now that I’m actually home, I miss home more than ever. Lately, when I allow myself to open up, I realize I speak of my time there as if it were my "real" life—a narrative currently on hiatus while I play a part here. It is a disorienting, circular grief; ironicall
Mar 34 min read
