A page from my life

​ 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...

​ I came across a reel on YouTube that said, “Don’t let society rush you.” It sounded simple. Almost cliché. But it struck a nerve People call you old at 30. And if someone dies at 30, they say, “So young.” Same age. Different tone. At 30, they ask what you’ve achieved. Are you married? Do you own a house? Why aren’t you further ahead? But when someone’s gone, no one asks about promotions or timelines. They just say, “There was so much life left.” It makes you realise most of the pressure was never real. It was noise. At 30, people expect you to have it figured out. Career stable. Relationship sorted. Savings done. Body perfect. Emotions mature. That’s the thing. We act like 30 is late, until it’s too late. But 30 is still just… living. Still trying. Still making mistakes. Still becoming. There is no alarm that goes off at midnight saying, “Congratulations. You must now be complete.” You’re allowed to be unsure. You’re allowed to change dir...

​ Just when you think Raanjhanaa is Anand L Rai’s worst film, he surprises you with another disaster “Tere Ishq Mein”. Two words “toxic masculinity!” In Bollywood the fu*kboy always gets upgraded into a demigod. His obsession is sold as devotion, his entitlement as passion and somehow we are expected to root for him. It makes me want to puke. To everyone who writes, directs, acts and glorifies characters like these; I have a question. Hypothetically if you had a daughter would you be happy if she dated or married a toxic “alpha” male??? That is exactly why we need more portrayals of men like Deepaks from Masaan. When he lost the woman he loved, he did not take his pain out on the world. He did not turn violent or bitter. He grieved…He cried and made all of us cry with him. And that is exactly the kind of person you should settle down with. The gentle one…The one who is not afraid of their emotions… In my early twenties, I believed love had to be intense dramatic and almost dest...