I am a reluctant writer. And an even more reluctant sharer of what I write. I am the sort of person who will write a novel in a frenzy in 30 days, and then delay sending a pitch to a publisher for 300 days. Also, I am a shy person, and I really can’t believe […]
Once, long ago, a friend I had never met until then told me this: There is no such thing as strangers. Just friends never met. Her words gave me solace at a time when I was lost and alone in a small town in China with no familiar face around me. I would look at […]
I have always been a runner. I love the easy rhythm of running, the way our minds can be aware yet lost at the same time. But last year, I fell in love with walking too. I loved the simplicity of it, the quiet condensation of each moment on your mind’s memories, and the calm […]
The more I drink of Time, the more I feel thirsty. Last year, on 9 June, I was wandering in a village in Spain. I was alone, yet I was with others. I was 40 that day, yet I felt I hadn’t been born at all. Last year, I walked and walked on that day. […]
I have been staying with my parents ever since India’s lockdown began after the Kannada New Year of Ugadi. Unlike my little apartment, theirs is a sprawling two-story house with a marvelous terrace. During these last few weeks, that terrace has been a solace for me on sultry evenings. I escape there after a day […]
A good friend of mine messaged me yesterday. “How are you managing the space inside your head? These ghosts are coming to the party. Mine, at the moment, is the fear of abandonment.” Since I don’t want to paste his message word by word, I will paraphrase the rest of it. He spoke about how […]
Nine years ago, I was backpacking in China. In the middle of the Taklamakan desert with two good friends. We had journeyed across the heart of Xinjiang Province for days together. It was summer, and although we had seen snow in the morning in Kashgar, just a few hours later, we were in the middle […]
A friend wrote to me saying that he is feeling ‘fear at all levels’ I had no advice for him. What can I say? But I can say this. Fear is just doing its job of protecting us. Beyond that protection, there’s faith. What fear can’t do, faith can. I don’t necessarily think of this […]
In 2003, my friend and I landed in Beijing on a teaching assignment in the middle of the SARS epidemic. With no real Internet and no smartphones, we arrived innocent, naive, and trusting of the world. We giggled at somber-looking Beijingers with their masks. We wore no masks and took no precautions as we stayed […]