Over the last week, at least 6 people have messaged or spoken to me about the restlessness they are going through with this pandemic. Make that 7. I will include myself in that list. As the conversations flowed, over email, text, and phone, I could only offer crumbs of comfort. Cliches. “It will get better.” […]
Someone I knew used to love buying me soap from Kerala. Don’t ask me why. I don’t want to know. Now, it has been months since this person left my life for good. But the other day, before Bangalore’s second lockdown began, I went to my now-desolate apartment to pick up some books. When I […]
Bangalore has been beautiful these last few weeks. At night, I sleep with a light quilt. The evenings and early mornings are edged with misty showers. My ‘walks’ on my terrace, therefore, had become less frequent with the rain. But one evening did draw a blue shade of promise for me, and I ventured up. […]
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 […]
It’s a walk of faith, I tell myself. I would walk 800-km from France to Spain to find faith. A walk to dispel my inner cynicism and believe in the essential goodness of humanity. That walk is the Camino de Santiago, an ancient pilgrim trail that starts in different places in Europe, culminating in the […]
I am always baffled when someone says I inspire them. I simply can’t believe that. How can you not know what a fraud and impostor I am? But unlike me, I want to share with you those genuine people who inspire me. The Happiness Series, I hope, will chronicle what I see in you and […]
We live in a world where hope seems dry; where the dreams of our lives flutter like dusty rags; where we flounder in the decay of our putrid emotions. And then…you see this. I had just gone to the hospital to get my monthly injections when my Dad told me to stop by at a […]
If you go to Bhutan, and you must because it’s my favorite country, then you will find that for a nation that pursues ‘Gross Domestic Happiness,’ its people are curiously obsessed with death. And since I am obsessed about happiness, then it follows that I am obsessed with death too, right? So, one day, I […]