A page from my life

Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani is one of my feel good watches that I keep going back to. I rewatched it a couple of weeks ago. I love this movie for the grandeur, dance numbers, filmy dialogues and of course the music. But this isn’t a movie appreciation post. It’s more of a Rocky Randhawa appreciation post... I mean, why don’t they write more male characters like Rocky anymore? Because Rocky is such an oddball of a hero. He is colourful, loud, slightly pretentious, ridiculously filmy and probably someone you’d think twice about making friends with. He’s impulsive, dramatic and very much a “too much” kind of person. On paper, he is hardly your conventional ideal partner. But what makes Rocky different is what lies under that loud persona. His instinct is to love and care. He wants to show up for the people he loves. When he gets something wrong, he is capable of recognising it and learning from it. He is comfortable being vulnerable and genuinely lets himself be changed by the people ...

I’m an atheist… Although I sometimes find myself somewhere between agnostic and atheist…And one thing I’ve genuinely wondered about is why atheists are so often portrayed as intolerant or lacking morality. Honestly I’ve often found atheists to be some of the most accommodating people when it comes to belief. I can disagree with your faith, question your beliefs, put my POV across and still respect your right to believe whatever you want. I don’t need you to believe what I believe for me to coexist with you. But then I open the comments section of almost any woman’s reel and see people quoting religious scriptures, invoking God, preaching about faith  while simultaneously throwing around rape threats, death threats and the most vile abuse imaginable. And so often, the very people doing it are the ones loudly proclaiming their religiousness. How do you invoke a supposedly moral, all-powerful being while using their name to justify hatred, misogyny and cruelty towards another human...

This week a friend who knew an older version of me reached out after a decade. She said she was randomly reminded of me today and decided to text. I smiled the moment I read it. It genuinely made my day. There is something incredibly comforting about talking to someone who knew you before life became… life. We spoke about the good old days, the people we were still in touch with, where life had taken us and somehow despite all these years, the conversation felt effortless. We shared pictures back and forth of each other’s lives. That’s when it hit us how much life had changed. Our conversations had gone from reaching class on time and studying for exams to work schedules, responsibilities, parents growing older, partners and spouses, children and the different lives each of us had built. One conversation led to another and before long we were planning a catch-up. As we discussed where to meet and when to meet, she said, “You guys are so busy with work, you guys let me know what time is...

​ When you realise that Irrfan Khan turned down Interstellar for The Lunchbox… It sounds like an unbelievable decision. Watching it again after all these years, I finally understood why. Saajan Fernandes is a middle-aged widower. The kind of ordinary man we’ve all seen around us. He gets annoyed when kids play cricket outside his house and refuses to return the ball. He’s spent over three decades in the same 9-to-5 job, carrying the same routine that countless Mumbaikars do…with the dependable dabbawala service as a part of everyday life. He’s cynical, withdrawn and content living inside his own little world. He even tries to avoid the responsibility of training his replacement. His monotonous life changes because of something that should never have happened: the dabbawalas make that one-in-a-million mistake and deliver someone else’s lunchbox to him. That lunchbox belongs to Ila, a homemaker trying to win back her husband’s affection through her cooking. It reminds me of what Master O...

Today I watched this series Taj Mahal 1989 and my biggest takeaway was First impressions are not always right. Somehow we’re conditioned to believe the very first version we form of someone. But if I look at my own life, some of the best people I know are the very ones I didn’t have a great first impression of. Set in 1989, the show follows four parallel stories, almost like Life In A Metro.  It’s a slow burn, but one that rewards patience. It feels incredibly real, beautiful and completely human. One thing I especially loved was how the women are written. I often feel that the women we meet in real life are far more interesting than the ones films and television usually give us. This show finally does them justice. The men too, are written with equal warmth and vulnerability. Life really does become more beautiful when adults learn to communicate and more importantly, communicate the right things at the right time. “When you begin to trust someone, it’s love.” This line!!! E...

​ This is a conversation that shows up often, when you are sitting with friends over coffee or a drink. Someone says you are so independent; and it sounds like praise. No one asks where it came from. Independence is not always a personality trait. It is something built slowly after being disappointed more times than expected. After showing up without it being returned. After learning how to hold yourself together in rooms where you really wanted to be held. Over time self-reliance feels safer than expectation. That is usually when trust begins to change. The people who say they have trust issues are often the kindest. They wear their heart on their sleeves. But, after being hurt in the same place too many times they stop loving recklessly. They begin loving carefully. Then there are those who say they do not expect too much. It sounds mature and grounded. Often it is protection. It is lowering the bar before someone else can drop it. It is telling yourself that less is enough...