31 December 1999 The house was awake that night. The television had been running since dinner, switching between Bollywood songs, celebrity interviews and the New Year countdown. Outside, the neighbourhood was coming alive with crackers, while I sat cross-legged, completely lost in the television. Tonight I was wearing my favourite Shah Rukh Khan T-shirt, the …
The Hour of Happiness
Shreya was already regretting the precious Sunday she had sacrificed to attend her cousin's wedding reception. Cousin was perhaps a generous word; she had met him only a handful of times and knew very little about him. Still, here she was, dressed in an outfit she had spent far too long choosing, sitting at a …
Beyond the Boxes We Create
I recently read The Tree, The Well and the Drag Queen by Salini Vineeth. I picked it up with absolutely no clue about the story. What drew me in was the promise of magical realism and folklore, and before I knew it, I was immersed in a world that felt both enchanting and deeply human. …
Home: The Quiet Shelter of Love
I was born into a nuclear family where life was neither extravagant nor dramatic, yet it carried a quiet sense of stability that I only truly appreciate now as an adult. My mother managed everything with remarkable ease — two children, household responsibilities, social obligations, guests appearing unannounced, school schedules, illnesses, celebrations — all without …
The Overbridge
Pic credit: Anirban Bagui “Taratari hato, Reema (Walk faster, Reema). The 11:20 local won’t wait for you.” Baba didn’t look back. He never did. Missing a train was almost a moral failure in the Banerjee household. I followed him toward Konnagar station. The overbridge rose ahead- tall, grey, and mostly ignored. Konnagar is a small …
The Unexpected Twists That Shaped My 2025
Every year carries its own surprises, but 2025 gave me two plot twists I never saw coming. Each one nudged me gently, yet powerfully, into a new version of myself. They were disguised as new opportunities and endless possibilities that I didn’t fully understand at first. But as the year draws to an end, reflection …
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Ageing Through Frames: A Gradual Shift in Perspective
Recently, Google Photos reminded me of pictures from my marriage seven years ago—right on cue as our anniversary approaches. I smiled at the screen, I remembered how I had posed in all possible styles, switching outfits, adjusting my dupatta, asking the photographer if the lighting was right. I had two albums made—one traditional and one …
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Where It All Began: The Inspiration Behind The Song of Our Bond
Khurda Road — the name reminds me of summer holidays, nani ghar, and the warmth of simpler times. It’s a small town in Odisha where my maternal grandmother lived. Being part of a coastal region, its air carries a gentle saltiness, the palm trees sway lazily, and the red soil glows under the sun — …
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Taking the Wheel: Overcoming an Old Fear
Last August (2024), I was in Kolkata visiting my parents with my young one, who was 7 months old then. Being home with them gave me the perfect window to try something new, to learn a new skill, and I decided to learn to drive because, like Maths, driving scared me. So, I thought, it …
Dreams Don’t Expire
Life is non-fiction… or is it?Some of the wildest fiction is rooted in truth,And some truths feel borrowed from stories.Maybe life is both—a manuscript we live,and a tale we keep rewriting. Dreams spark in unknowing moments. When I was a child, I would stare at the stars and wish for so many things. One day, …
Cerebration 