Why do I find beauty salons intimidating?

There is something about beauty salons in India. The way these people make you dislike attributes about yourself is outrageous. That said, I am do not demean myself, but simply fail to understand the need to red mark all that they think is not good enough…

Racing against the wrong competition.

We are all running. Running against time and running against each other. In the past one week that I have returned to grad school, I see a mad race amongst some fresh faces who want to out do the others around. A defining goal that someone else sets and you work to achieve that. It is…

When in doubt, clean!

‘Cleanliness is next to Godliness.’ A saying we’ve all heard and read since childhood; however we all have sometimes or more times than not been guilty of not following this. I am a tidy person. My sister finds it irritating enough, since I derive pleasure from neat and clean spaces. When…

Tirelessly writing — Day 1

I began writing on medium on 25 July, if I remember correctly, and continued the tradition until I arrived in Singapore, for my second year at graduate school. I thought, I will write everyday, and then thought maybe skipping a day or two is fine., and finally, realised that it’s…

When do you know, you’ve earned enough?

An interesting incident happened yesterday. My brother went to the cobbler to collect a pair of shoes, which needed fixing. The cobbler initially told him that it would cost Rs. 70 (US$1.04 approx.). As my brother told me later, he only charged Rs.50. Why, I…

What is it like to be taught by influential professors?

My day today at grad school has not yet ended, and I have already taken two classes by highly valued professors in public policy academia. My morning started at 09.00 at a session with Prof. Danny Quah. After sitting through three hours of his class, I was blown away by…

Why do I let some LinkedIn requests hang forever.

It is a strange feeling to check your LinkedIn account daily and ignore the pending requests. They are always there. People want to build their professional network, widen the scope of connections, check new profiles, understand professionalism on LinkedIn better.

What do songs on the loop do to your mind?

It gets you to stop listening to them. I started with listening to a new album today afternoon while getting ready for school. A shower round of songs, one while making my hair and finally while waiting for bus. That’s it. The death of the song is going to happen soon. Another round…

Instagramming the past, unapologetic of the new

I realised something today, while posting a picture on Instagram; I love going back into the past and reminiscing about it. And I have hovered over other such accounts too. We all love preserving the memories don’t we? Posting albums on Facebook…

Relentlessly writing — Day 2/3

I should have written this yesterday. I thought I would write at night, when something or someone in the day would have inspired me. Seems the only element of inspiration yesterday was stress. So, let’s talk about that in the late post.