Back to Being a Traveler: My 2026 Beginning in Varanasi

I like to think of myself as someone who travels a lot. The kind of person who’s always planning the next trip, chasing new places, and collecting stories along the way. But 2025 had other plans. I didn’t go anywhere. Not a single trip. And slowly, my self-proclaimed reputation as a “traveler” started to feel …

Cups of Coffee & Chapters of Kindness

There’s something magical about the way a café scene is described in novels or sitcoms. Every time I come across a character sipping coffee in a cozy corner of a café—whether in a book or on screen—I get an instant urge to recreate that moment. However, since there are no charming cafés within a walkable distance …

From Indo-Pak to Panem: Exploring Class Divides in Two Timeless Novels

Historical vs. Dystopian: Themes of Power in Two Riveting Novels A tale of two societies, one set in the Indo-Pak region and the other in an alternate reality of North America. One depicting the brutal reality of Partition-era India and the other in a dystopian future. Both reflecting the same intriguing theme of the echoes …

Introspection on all the past years?

Jan 1, 2025: A letter to myself. The day that positions itself as the best to trick my brain into restarting my recurring goal. 'Maintaining the blog with regular posting.' It would be a crime to name it 'recurring', since it has not been thought about after 2020. I was so overwhelmed with my success …

An Unforgettable CIAL Internship

It was 2018. The long vacation after I finished my third year of engineering. The time where all the smart kids in my class, which was everyone, utilized the gap doing internships. The time when we referred to unpaid training programs of two weeks as an internship. I was fortunate enough to be in the …

Vehicle Horns & Me ~ A never-ending love-hate story!

Having been educated at a school that opens at 8 AM and functions till 2 PM, one would assume that I was someone who loved taking a peaceful afternoon nap. Well, yes, partly I did enjoy it, but "with aging came responsibilities" - my dad's vehicle horn which was the alarm signal for me to …

A Deception that Elevates Us Is Dearer than a Host of Low Truths

Being a person who misses even the walls and the most insignificant objects which would hardly catch the eyes of a normal observer, Neha always played the scenario of leaving a place, in her head, before the real departure happened. Be it a place where she knew not a single soul or talked to none …

No Words Enough…

You do not realize the importance of a person unless and until you are put to test and made to stay away from them for a while. I experienced this during one of the festive occasions at our house, the Navratri festival. The time which otherwise would have been spent in engaging with the neighbors, …

And Then There Were None!

~ Agatha Christie A book that needs no introduction. I would begin this review with an embarrassing confession about myself: to my all-time favorite author, Agathe Christie, whose works, I have read more than of any other authors and the only one whose novels I finish within a single day. How could I have not …

SHŌGUN

~James Clavell It was the "summer holidays". A 17-year old girl from a district in the state of Kerala, India, was taken to a badminton club near her house by her father. They crossed a library on their way and happened to stop by it. The father's eyes fell on the majestic title of the …