From Deepa's Desk

I came across two memes pertaining to January - one defining January as a never-ending Monday and the other stating that out of 365 days of a year, January itself feels 300 days long. While these memes are hilarious, they do drive a point home. There were times during the month when January felt as if it is stretching itself. Then there were some days when I realized that the first month of the new year is speeding by. Whether long or short, January has been eventful for me. Be it books, my write-ups, movies or just personal reflections, January gave me enough time to catch up with all of these. Reading Reflections: Reading-wise, January has been a peaceful and satisfying month. I deliberately chose cozy, comfortable and light reads. I joined an online book-reading group and it has really motivated me to keep up with my reading habit.  Here are the books I read in this month: Books by Carolyn Brown: The Lullaby Sky The Lilac Bouquet The Party Line Books by Sadhguru: Mind Is Your Bu...

Come December, and nostalgia starts setting in. There's something bittersweet about the last month of the year. An impending sense of ending looms ahead, along with the promise of new and probably better beginnings.  I had actually planned to start a sort of an advent calendar, trying to make every day of December special by assigning a fun - activity for each day of the month. I painstakingly prepared a list of activities.  But then, the prospect of doing something new everyday feels daunting. It feels like there is so much pressure to make the day special. It shouldn't be so, right? I mean, what is the point of doing something that is intended for enjoyment but feels like a chore? So I more or less gave up on the list.  But life has a funny way of catching us by surprise. Without any intention or plan, the day indeed felt special. And the best part - I didn't have to go out of my way to make it special. I could wake up early and enjoy the time before morning dawned clou...

This year’s Ganesh Chaturthi was indeed special! Since two years, our apartment complex has been playing host to the Lord Ganesha. A group of boys in the colony and their friends look after all the arrangements – right from collecting funds, to bringing the Ganesha and ensuring daily worship. For one whole week, the evenings went by in attending the Pooja, availing the delicious Prasad offerings and meeting people from the apartment and the lane as well. Some new acquaintances were formed while existing friendships blossomed even more. After a long while, the lane reverberated with the sounds of children playing and having fun. It was a wonderful week – a time to dress up, meet people and strengthen the bonds of a budding community! I started this blog by saying that this year’s festival was special. There’s an interesting story about it. The day when Ganesha is brought home, or to the pandal, is a very special day for me. I have fond memories of rushing out of my home whenev...

  Somedays you need that cup of extra-strong coffee. Because you realize that no matter how many routes of escape you keep in hand, it really catches up with you that life is hard. You plan and organize, yet things will go out of hand. You read inspiring books and listen to motivational podcasts, yet one small, negligible event can trigger the ever-simmering gloom in your mind. You listen to spiritual discourses every day that keep reminding you to rise above the petty matters of life and think from a bigger context. Yet one criticizing remark is enough to remind you of everything that is going wrong with your life. You meet and deal with a lot of people and assume that you know how to handle difficult ones, and yet when the time comes to stand up against toxic people, you cannot, because a part of your mind that has always been subdued by such people tells you (in their voice) that it is your fault like always. You plan a to-do list and find that there will always be a...

  I am ashamed to say that I have not been following up with the Kolkata rape case. The reason is quite petty and selfish – I am too weak-hearted to read or hear any details about the victim. I have been reading many posts on the social media, condemning the dastardly crime and asking for justice. Yet I kept quiet, not wanting to get involved. But only because Nirbhaya has already broken me. So did Priyanka (from Hyderabad in 2019). I do not have stomach to read or hear about any more crimes. Today, a friend sent a YouTube video wherein a doctor living near the hospital recounted the horrors that the hospital is facing. I kept listening until she came to the point where she started describing the victim’s condition. My finger automatically slid across the video to many minutes further. Because I can’t. I just can’t. And to think that someone actually went through all of that. Acts like this shake up our very belief in humanity. We should not even compare ourselves to animals,...

Of late, I and my kid have taken to watching the series Young Sheldon, a delightful plot revolving around a child who is a prodigy in the making and is trying to stand out in a world where he will never fit in. In today’s episode, I came across an interesting concept where some people wonder whether they are happy and they ever will be. It drove home some points and I started thinking about what makes me happy. Instantly the answer came to my mind – blogging. I have been at my happiest whenever I blogged. Not a novel, not a story, but a simple blog, a blog reflecting on some life-lesson that I learnt or which shares some anecdote from my daily life. It has been a while since I wrote a blog on my site. There are many challenges, the most prominent being lack of readership and viewers. My blog at the most gets ten to twelve views and I am not even sure whether those were reads or just views. It sometimes amazes me that my WA status wherein I share the link to my blog shows me 40 to 5...