Always the Same Desires

The constant desire to be some place else lingers. On a hotel bed. Indulging in a foreign cuisine. Being inspired by strangers. Why does the mind not settle? Why does the existing not satiate? Why is there a desire to be larger than life, a bigger person than the one I already am? Why can't...

10 Things to Do When You Can’t Figure What to Do

Even though I have a hundred tabs open on my browser and my to-do list is lengthier than all the pages contained in the Odyssey, every once in a while I find myself stuck in a rut. Not from a lack of things to do, but from a lack of motivation to do them. Time and...

How Do I Feel At the Moment?

"Lately, I find myself out gazing at stars Hearing guitars, like someone in love Sometimes the things you do astound me Mostly whenever you are around me" ~ Diana Krall Here’s the thing about feelings – they are transitory. One moment you are sulking, feeling small and insignificant, and the next, you are joyous, believing...

On Teaching Children to Read

I’m sitting at Starbucks with a bunch of ladies sitting on a table next to mine, with two young kids. A boy and a girl. Both around three. Or maybe they are two two-year-olds. I’m bad at guessing ages. So the children are cranky because their mothers and a grandmother are busy chatting. What is...

An open letter to parents who keep pushing their kids to get married

Dear Parent, I know how important it is to you to see me happy. And you believe that me being married & having kids is the answer to that.I'd like to be married and make babies some day. But I can't tell you when that might happen or with whom or if it might happen...

Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov

Many a man has suffered in the pursuit of romance. And in the literary world, Humbert Humbert is among those who has suffered the most.

Dear S.B.

This was meant to be a handwritten letter. But then it began to run into too many pages. It is also meant to be a personal note, but I thought, there’s nothing like a public declaration of love. So here goes, to the one who said, “I’m yours forever”. I don’t remember what our first...

I Am Reading Too Slow

Charles Chu reads 200 books a year (here’s how he does it). I have people on my Goodreads list who read up to 300 books in the same amount of time. I, on the other hand, read about 50 in a year. Last year I read a measly 21. I know it isn't a numbers...

1606 by James Shapiro

I’m a lover of history and everything historical, including history books. I picked this one up at some bookstore (now forgotten), out of curiosity. The subject appealed to me. It is about Shakespeare (whose books I have never read, no, not even in school/college), it is set in the 1600s, a favourite time-period when it comes...

And the Mascara Stays On

July 5, 2016, was the best day of the year past. Because it was one of my worst birthdays ever. I turned 30, the half-mark goal of life (a conservative me pegs my life ending at 60), and I wanted it to be a day I remember. I was afraid that a pessimistic me would mope...

This Curse of Mine

My unhappiness does not stem from tragic or unsavoury situations alone. It also comes from me having a head over my shoulders. From me having a high IQ and high standards. From my ability to think about existential questions. From my potential to see through people in a matter of minutes. From my capacity to feel...

2016: The Year That Was

If I have to pick a single word to describe the year that was - considering no major upsets or joys come my way in the one week that remains - 2016 has been all about introspection. There have been highs of the kinds I’ve never experienced before. And lows of the kind I haven’t...

The Scapegoat by Daphne du Maurier

What if you could run away from your life and assume the life of another? That’s what the protagonist of Daphne du Maurier’s novel yearns for. As a professor, John is well-versed in the French history, but he never does feel that oneness that a Frenchman would. He considers himself an outsider, leading a life...

Day 4: Venice of the North

The first thing that strikes me about Amsterdam during the light of the day is the city's architecture. From historical buildings to canal houses to innovative modern designs, Amsterdam must surely be a delight for design lovers.

A Girl Reduced to a Series of Texts

I loved the age when technology could not touch me, could not pervade my senses, could not creep into my personal space. If someone wanted to reach me on the phone, they would leave messages for me on my landline, and I would call back, at my leisure. When friends made plans, we didn't end up...

A Migraine isn’t Just a Headache

Not every headache one has is a migraine. Not every headache I have is a migraine. It's a pity though that people will sometimes claim they are suffering from a migraine when it is, in most likelihood, just a bad headache. A migraine is a lot more than the usual ache at the end of a...

On Mute

So this post is going to be one long rant about everything that is not so good in my life at the moment. Yes, it's a journey into self-pity. Long years past, a then good friend of mine told me, on one of my 'feeling-blue' days, that I was simply wallowing in self-pity. Him saying that...

#OneLoveStory Blocked

It's a blind date (or the version of blind dates that exist in 2016). It's the first time the girl is meeting the guy. Girl in pink pants, golden shoes. Guy: You're flamboyant Girl rolls her eyes. You're judgemental. She thinks to herself. Guy: Wow, that's a designer watch you're wearing. You like watches? Girl: Yes,...

A Happy Ending?

How is it that it becomes the ultimate pursuit of life? As if we are reading our own life's stories and skimming through all the pages, skipping paragraphs, flipping pages in a hurry, just to reach the end that says "happily ever after". I grew up reading fairy-tales. And I believed them. In all sincerity. I...

I don't want a happily ever after; I want a happy every day