Essays
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The Kal Paradox
Why Indian English Isn’t Broken, It’s Running on a Different Backend Woman and Clock, Louise Bourgeois (fair use) Salman Rushdie once observed that no people whose word for ‘yesterday’ is the same as their word for ‘tomorrow’ can be said to have a firm grip on time (Midnight’s Children). He was talking about the Hindi word kal,… Continue reading
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The Lives I Didn’t Live (But Asked AI To Render Anyway)
AI-generated image: my mother and me at the Taj Mahal, a trip we never took. Forgive me, for I have mid-journeyed. I asked the machine to bring my grandmother back, not as she was when she died.. frail, sharp, and opinionated, but as a young woman standing in front of the Eiffel Tower, a place… Continue reading
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Episode 10: The One Who Was Always There (Until He Wasn’t)
The recurring character who was almost the main character, until he wasn’t. Some loves don’t take center stage. They light it. Image Credit Some people enter your story as guest stars. Others are series regulars from the pilot episode. The Regular was cast before I even knew there was a show. Our mothers practiced Rabindra… Continue reading
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Without Her
Five years ago, fifty-five days after my mother passed away, I made a video I never planned to share. This is what I understand now, watching it again. Grief doesn’t announce itself. It brews tea. Lights incense. Scrolls Instagram. Five years ago, fifty-five days after I lost my mother, I made a short film. It… Continue reading
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Fall, Pico, Alteration: The Tailors Who Don’t Make Clothes
Unsung, unseen, but always on time.. almost Somewhere in Mylapore, Chennai They don’t design, cut, or create. They don’t have Pinterest boards or boutique signage. But they are the ones who make sure your clothes live, long after you’ve outgrown them, shrunk away from them, or simply changed your mind. These are not the tailors of… Continue reading
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Dressed for Silence
On disappearing, dressing down, and choosing clothes that don’t speak for you A dress is just a kurta that went to therapy.A personal essay on what I wore, what I refused, and the quiet power of dressing for no one. In my twenties, I wore clothes that let me disappear, loose kurtas that blended into… Continue reading
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DIY Goddesses and YouTube Devotion
How long-form kitchen videos taught me care, confidence, and the appeal of a ₹3200 brass kadhai. The first time I heard Nisha Madhulika’s voice, I was in my very tiny kitchen in my Bombay home, armed with misplaced confidence and one too many unripe tomatoes. My mother was out of town. The cook was on… Continue reading
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Nights in White Satin
[Representative Image generated using AI] Why does one feel friendlier and more social when visiting another city? Maybe it’s the thought of yet another room service dinner of rice and yellow dal, or perhaps it’s the loneliness of hotel rooms creeping in, making everything feel a little unsafe. You start longing for familiarity—who better to… Continue reading
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Cupcakes are for the weak
[Representative Image generated using AI] The day I got my diagnosis, was a Tuesday mid-morningish. At this point, having spent so much time mastering the fine art of procrastinating my bath-time, I was sitting in my filth on the giant sofa. Amma was making valiant attempts to guilt-trip me into having a bath, but I… Continue reading
