The Day I Hit the Gym in a Sari

The how to be happy edit

This is me on a regular day, off to the gym. All photos belong to the author.

Some days, the daily routine gets to me. Slumping in my car after the school drop-off, I scrolled through The New York Times. The Best Advice I’ve Ever Heard for How to be Happy by Jancee Dunn made me sit up. It was full of simple, joyful hacks:

1. Start weird little rituals
2. Hang out with younger people
3. Share uplifting gossip
4. Recreate mini-vacation vibes in daily life
5. Build a happiness toolkit from favorite memories, and if all this advice were to fail,
6. Some last-word wisdom from Cher.

By late afternoon, I would live every one of those suggestions… in silk and sweat.

The Saree, the Ceremony, and the Spark

That morning, I dressed for a neighbor’s annaprashan — a baby’s first rice-eating ceremony. Saree on, hair set, jewelry shimmering. It was a classic Bengali affair: babies, blessings, and of course, fish.

But something else was tugging at me.

I have a confession: I love taking gym photos. Not the workout part — let’s not pretend I’m a masochist — but the posing. Sure, it makes no sense to stop mid-workout for a selfie, but those snaps? I adore them.