There’s this book on Dalai Lama, written by a psychiatrist who has interviewed him from time to time. One of the questions he asks Dalai Lama is, “You have been exiled from your land, you have lost your home, your people, your culture. On top of that, you are constantly …
The problem is… we read too many stories. We read and hear so many stories that all of us imagine life to have intriguing twists and textbook endings. But stories are based on real life- real life is not based on stories. I always imagined that the night before my …
There is a theory which says that the logical part of the brain suppresses the emotional part. And that is why complex funeral rituals were established, so that the family gets so busy logically arranging the funeral that they have no time to grieve. That is what we do too. …
“Bravery— by far the kindest word for stupidity, don’t you think?” – Mycroft Holmes Some time, some place, some one decided that bravery was a commendable attribute of humanity and we all followed him like brainless sheep. I agree with Mycroft, bravery is fine up to a degree. But too …
You won’t know when it happened, but one day sadness just comes and sits next to you. Sadness will spend every moment possible with you. It won’t let you get up from your bed in the morning. But if you are really, really strong, you shall get up and force …
Sometime ago I started volunteering for an international depression-cum-suicide prevention website. The website has two types of people on it— Listeners and Users. Listeners are trained volunteers who listen to the problems of users without judgement and offer something as simple as a sympathetic ear. Users are the people who …
After a surgery, I had complications which sent me back to the hospital five more times— once every week, each visit a span of five torturous days. By the fifth visit, I had become extremely weak. And this time, I had been in pain for 32 hours, and had not …
I’m reading about the Indian freedom struggle for the third time, but even this time, it didn’t fail to give me goosebumps. Remember that before the British came, there was no concept of ‘India’ as a nation- it was just a cluster of kingdoms. So imagine the sheer persuasive power …
There are very few moments which can define a city for you, but for me, 18th December, 2012 was the day which defined Delhi for me. I hated Delhi. The brash, loud, spoilt-rotten crowd with their flashy cars and flashier girlfriends. Let me correct myself… I hated delhiites. And then …
Long ago, I remember watching this movie called ‘Aamir’ about an NRI who returns to India. Just as he exits the airport, he gets a call from a terrorist group directing him to follow certain orders in order to save his kidnapped family. Throughout the movie, Aamir runs helter-skelter to …
