It was about 9:45 am. The weather in Mumbai had been pleasant until 9 am. But now, the sun was out. Anyone who has run a marathon will tell you that the last 5 km are the most excruciating. That is when your mind plays tricks. It colludes with a broken body. It whispers that […]
It’s early Sunday morning. One of our clients wants to “talk.” I am nervous. We had a bit of an uncomfortable discussion around payment on Friday. I call them. She picks up. “I want to say that we are truly sorry. We allowed our biases to creep in. We talk so much about biases, but […]
Let me tell you a story. A travel story. In 2003, I was teaching Spoken English in a tiny city called Lianyungang, China. It was the first time I was in a foreign country. Living by myself. Teaching a language I wasn’t confident speaking. And had narrowly escaped the confines of a Chinese prison. (A story […]
My left knee throbs as I write this. It reminds me of its existence, a sudden flare-up of a pain I have been managing for 1.5 months now. Pointed stars of pain. I am used to it, but the thing about pain is that it always hurts. In 3 days, I will run my first […]
A few years ago, I had a book soulmate. I connected with this person in a way I never had with anyone else over books. Words. We wrote long emails over books. Read together. Mused over words. Fell in love with melancholy. The person wasn’t to stay in my life, however. She didn’t just carry […]
When Mondays meant saris… My first job after graduating was as a teacher at Jain International Residential School. There were many other firsts: It was my first time as a teacher. Studying a paper called ‘Teaching English as a Foreign Language’ can in no way prepare you to meet a bunch of raucous 5th graders. […]
“How are you feeling today?” This is probably the most difficult question you can ask me. When I first started therapy about 1.5 years ago, my therapist would ask me this question first, and I would freeze. I didn’t know the ‘correct’ answer. Do you actually respond with what you feel? Because we have been […]
Where would I be without literature? In 2000, I applied for a Master’s in Mass Communication from Bangalore University. I had graduated in Psychology and Journalism and thought that journalism was my ‘career’ path. We didn’t have career counselors then. My family didn’t really care what I did. 𝗜 didn’t care what I did. I […]
“I just want to be heard!” This is me during most of my therapy sessions. All my life, I have craved this feeling of being held in silence and understanding. My closest friend in life, Travelling Birdy, and I have a long friendship of almost 20 years. Like any other relationship, we have grown and […]