Even now, when I travel in public buses, I raise my hand quietly for the conductor's attention. I never yell at him to get my ticket. I try to be as insignificant as possible, as invisible as possible to the naked eye as long as my work gets done. I know I deviate from practices essential to sustain life in…
“You’re a warrior. Warriors don’t give up and they don’t back down. Pick up your sword and fight.” This is a line that will always remind me of this wonderful person I'd met a year back. I still remember the day. It was 11th December 2017. I was waiting in the surgical ward of a renowned hospital in Johor Bahru,…
It shook me like a bad dream. I remember going through days, just hoping that it isn't real and anxious that any moment then, I would get a call or a text and it would all be better for good. I remember crying myself to sleep every single night and being scared of falling asleep, dreading my own dreams. I…
'It is both a blessing and a curse' he said, 'to be you'. I was almost caught off-guard by what he said. 'Your generation' he went on 'is flooded with options, opinions and access, to anything and everything at your fingertip' but the issue my child is 'you are lost, there is knowledge explosion and nobody knows what to consume…
“At the stroke of the midnight hour, as the world sleeps...” a loudspeaker chirped somewhere outside. A nation was being born, the doctor informed us silently in stark darkness as it was probably an unwanted child. I was sitting right in the labour room listening to the suppressed moaning and despair of my motherland, somewhere on the newly drafted border…
I remember 2009, when maasi used to drag me along to Karol Bagh, Delhi to buy me gifts without any reason. Because, aren't aunts the most adorable ever? And me being extremely fond of this particular aunt, I was plain biased about her. (For who wouldn't love her with all the pampering and gifts!) But then for almost the next…
Dear Junior, I see you’re playing your favourite song on loop in your iPod—4th generation. Well, enjoy it; for soon, they’ll both be outdated—your iPod and the playlist on it. Pst, you have a new message from a friend on your Nokia phone. But you have not realized it yet since it doesn’t ping as much. Enjoy your text-only days.…
I remember meeting Deepak the last time he was in Kolkata. It was a certain winter afternoon and we'd met at a quaint Flurys outlet in New Alipore, guzzling down hot chocolate and brainstorming crazy ideas for FUEL. I had turned up five minutes late, drained out of energy, still recovering from the greatest loss of my life and he,…
It is not infrequently that you would catch me indulging myself in yet another episode of my favorite TV show—one of my many guilty pleasures (second to only comfort food). You might be familiar with that feeling. But sometimes, you come across that one scene or listen to that one quote or encounter that one character that strikes a chord…
Here’s a small excerpt from a conversation that I always tend to remember when I am dangling at the edge of my comfort zone- Me- “I just want to go home. I don’t like it here.” Friend - “Have you ever been away from your home?’ Me- “Just for a while.” Him - “Hmm, you are likely to face a…
