Among treadmills humming like distant traffic and dumbbells clinking in tired rhythm, I have found a species at the gym that is endlessly fascinating: Couples Who Work Out Together. They come in many forms, each a bundle of motivation, negotiation, love, and compromise. Over the past many weeks of observing different packages, I’ve come to … Read more
When I write dialogue, I often catch myself doing too much. Explaining, clarifying, justifying — as if my characters would lose their way without me holding their hands. But over time, I’ve learned that what’s left unsaid often carries more meaning than all the words I can string together. It’s the silence between two sentences … Read more
My flight to Amritsar landed at 12:30 pm.With admirable optimism and accurate mathematics, I assumed I would reach the hotel by 1. And I did—as efficiently as a person with one backpack and no checked-in baggage can. What I hadn’t accounted for was the small but mighty detail printed clearly on my booking:Check-in: 3:00 pm. … Read more
Most of our adult lives revolve around jobs and money. But ask two people what a job is for, and you’ll get two different answers. Ask them what money is for, and again the answers will vary. The truth is, our views on these two things reveal more about us than we realize. I spent … Read more
When I turned writer, I never told anyone that I was just a writer. In my corporate years, the dreaded question — “What do you do?” — had a simple answer: “I work for …” The company name changed over two decades, but the conversation stopped there. No one asked more, no one expected more. … Read more
The simple explanation to something is generally the best one – isn’t that what Ockham’s Razor says? It may be true in real life, but when it comes to stories, it may not necessarily be true. Most stories for me start when I reject the simple explanation in real life situations and get curious about … Read more
Going on a trek and starting to write a book are similar experiences. You don’t need to know how the entire trek looks to get started. You only need to know the overview at best. It is quite similar when I start a book – I typically choose a theme. I never know what the … Read more
In Majuli, the island on the Brahmaputra, it struck me that not every mask hides a smile, some reveal secrets. I read this somewhere on the way to this island, perhaps on the ferry from Jorhat which I took a few years back. Mask making is a major trade in Majuli. It might have been … Read more
The other day I took the Metro to go somewhere. I had to change at the interchange station (Majestic) and move from one line to the other. I am not a frequent user of the metro. So, I didn’t know the order of the stations in different lines. But I found the metro map that … Read more