The Deshmukh home in Pune had slowly turned into a pressure cooker. Not because of money. Not because of chores. But because of opinions. Every evening, the living room became a battlefield of loud voices and louder judgments. Baba and Ma argued about policies that neither fully understood. Rhea, home from college, dismissed everything as…
Negativity often disguises itself as victimhood. Many who wallow in misery justify their outlook by pointing to past suffering, claiming years of mental torture as the reason for their present bitterness. While past wounds are real, they can also become convenient shields…. excuses that allow continued pessimism without accountability. Ironically, some of these individuals were…
In a world that often feels heavy, that measures worth in victories and stockpiles worries like winter fuel, there walks among us a different kind of soul. Their currency is not coin, but connection. Their vocation is not mapped on any formal ledger. They are the keepers of the flame, and they operate on one…
Years ago, on a flight that now feels like a quiet blessing, I found myself seated beside the legendary Piyush Pandey. I had long admired his creative genius… the man who gave India its most iconic brand stories, from Fevicol’s irreverent glue to Cadbury’s joyful dance. Yet, I hesitated. Perhaps he wanted silence before tackling…
Last year, we spoke of the silent echoes in homes where the elderly feel alone, forgotten, neglected. This Diwali, let’s remember that the most profound light we can offer isn’t always a grand gesture. Sometimes, it’s a simple spark of connection, a moment of being seen, that can rekindle a world. This story is a…
Dussera, that radiant festival of right action, arrives each year with the crackle of burning effigies and the age-old lesson blazing brighter than any firework: good must triumph over evil, and our actions… not just our intentions… reveal our true values. It is a time for clarity, for moral courage, and, one would hope, for…
For ten vivid days, the air thrums with a fervour unlike any other. One witnesses countless men….. fathers, brothers, sons, husbands….. fold their hands, bow their heads in profound obeisance before towering, resplendent idols. Durga Puja unfolds in a spectacle of devotion, a vibrant celebration pulsating with energy, artistry, and a powerful symbolic narrative: the…
It was a Tuesday. The kind of day that smells like diesel, disappointment, and the faint whiff of my own irrelevance. I was in Chembur, sipping my overpriced black plum juice…..yes, black plum, not jamun. I say it that way because the fancy café near my house calls it “black plum juice” and charges triple…
The chalk dust in Masterji’s classroom was the smell of dreams, and for a long time, Rohan felt he wasn’t allowed to breathe it in. At ten years old, his world was a silent scream of frustration. The letters on the page were a malevolent swarm of black ants, shifting and swarming, refusing to make…
In our residential colony tucked into the folds of suburban Mumbai, where I spent my childhood, the Ganpati festival was not just a religious observance…….it was a transformation of space, spirit, and sound. The lanes, usually humming with the quiet rhythm of school-going children and evening news bulletins, would burst into life. For ten days,…
