Life as I know it

The term “Quarter life crisis” is a fairly millennial one. Not to discount anything the older generations had to endure but truth is every generation has had to bear the brunt of their times and in our case, I think our biggest nemesis are expectations. Well, we live in an era where kids as young as seven code for fun, have thriving YouTube accounts with pretty sordid earnings and own actual companies! Literally every third person you meet is either an influencer or a TikTok star. If you don't believe me, Google it and you will be shocked at the number of successful child entrepreneurs. Trigger warning: Seeing kids a quarter of your age earn more than you have ever made in your lifetime may be a teeny bit disheartening! I have to be honest and say I am totally guilty of being one of those people who sees YouTube videos and go "OMG..I can totally do that". Now if you ask me whether I will actually take the trouble to find a spot in my house with ample lighting, declutter i...

Being a dusky skinned child in an Indian society is an experience all by itself. Being branded as one of the lesser fortunate ones, probably from the minute you are born, you grow up being pitied on by most of your community. Not to mention the countless advice you get on what fairness creams and turmeric and milk can do for your complexion. And in all fairness, it becomes hard to question their motives as the entire societal mindset is regressive enough to make these "well meaning" individuals truly feel like they come from a place of love and deep concern for your future. As you grow older, and you have exhausted all the possible traditional hacks and high-end products, you embrace who you are. Not that you won’t get reminded of your ‘misfortune’, at extremely regular intervals but you somehow realize that sometimes, the only way to react to people is not to react at all. But if you think running away from the aunties who ‘say it as it is’ solves the problem, you are in...

Considering the multiple queries that I received asking for advice on how to go about the Indian NEET PG counselling, I thought this would be a good time to write about choosing the right post graduation. An honest disclaimer, this would be a very personal blog with my very biased personal opinions. So please bear with me in case you think differently.   You may have decided to pursue medicine for reasons of your own – continuing a family legacy or having a desire to truly help people or you were just enamored by the profession. Well, ultimately, the reason tends to take a backstage. When your class of 100 students, from multiple backgrounds, graduate as doctors, it means each one of you endured 5 years of pretty hard core studying and survived some really stressful examinations. While one graduates with the weird feeling of having worked hard, yet wondering if one is up to the mark to face the challenges that lie ahead, what you don’t realize is that all the while, your trai...

I have always wanted a puppy as long as I can remember. However, I was also completely aware of the effort involved in taking care of one. Having stayed in apartments and hostel rooms all my life, with a busy school/work schedule, the idea of owning a pet only to coop them up without giving them the time and space they deserve, seemed almost cruel. But destiny intervened and I met my husband's two year old chocolate Labrador retriever and I can tell you my life has never been the same, since. So, our baby, who belonged to a therapy litter was picked up by my husband as a puppy and christened Denzel. I still remember my first meeting with him. I was excited naturally but to be completely frank, I was way more nervous than excited because I realized Denzel was the family member who I had to impress the most. No pressure at all. But then came this adorable goofball, who ran up to me and wanted to be cuddled and fed and cuddled some more!! I have no words to describe the endorphins tha...

So after putting it off for so long, I have finally come around to writing this post after spending 10 months in Perth. DISCLAIMER:  What I describe here are purely my personal experiences! Having spent 11 years in India, I moved to Perth on June 2019 after making a life altering decision to get married to an Aussie. Like everyone who moves to a new city, I did my fair share of research via Google/Youtube, asking around and my husband did his best to describe to me what I’m in for. But nothing prepares you for the real thing like experiencing it yourself and once I landed here, what hit me the most was the beauty of the place. The beautiful quiet suburbs with perfectly manicured gardens, the bustling city with its walkways, the pristine beaches, the magnificent huge trees so completely native to Australia, that I had never seen them anywhere else I have been. The air was so fresh, the traffic was light and the people I met so polite. To be completely honest, havi...

Can any one among us claim to have perfect mental health? On hearing terms like obsessive compulsive traits, adjustment disorder, excessive grief reaction, sleep disorders, anxiety or panic attacks, sexual problems, alcohol and drug abuse or post-traumatic stress, 99 percent of those reading this may be able to attribute themselves as having experienced a few of these if not most of these, at some point in their lives. So can we finally say mental health is the most underrated aspect of our lives which we should probably be paying more attention to? It is the essence of our being. You are not just what you are thinking but you are what you are feeling too. All of us have an innate personality at birth with multiple genetic influences over which we have no control over. In addition to that, right from childhood, we are influenced by the environment we grow up in, how our parents, teachers and other caregivers treat us, our social interaction with our peers, so on and so for...

So as the battle against Corona ensues and the world accepts grudgingly that self isolation is the only way to ensure safety of self and others, the antisocial me welcomes the concept of  staying at home with my books and Netflix and a stocked pantry and freezer a bit better than most around me. This was also the point when a load of shocking revelations hit me. The news and the multiple WhatsApp forwards documenting the measures taken by various governments and leaders and people all over the world highlighted a lot of loopholes and flaws and lapses, because finally we are at a stage where we are forced to stay in our homes and stop and think about something bigger than ourselves.  THE BIGGER PICTURE. Amidst conspiracy theories that allege that Corona is actually China's bio-weapon to boost their economy while the rest of the world goes towards a global recession that could be compared to the one the world experienced during The Great Depression, we see countries delayi...