life
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120 Under 120
On Living Forever With Nothing To Do An AI-generated reconstruction of a lunch that had already ended. At a recent family lunch, three generations agreed on exactly one thing: none of us cared for AI. This consensus lasted approximately fourteen minutes, at which point we realised nobody had photographed the food. We had committed the Continue reading
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The One in Which Rachel Green Lied to Me
A personal essay on how Friends, a Louis Vuitton tote bag, and two decades of middle-class aspiration shaped a life in India. From navigating the Dadar fast local with a backpack to buying ‘dupes’ on Meesho, a look at the performance of adulthood and the gap between who we are and who we want to… 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 11: The Girl I Brought Home
The one who writes love stories to children who will never exist The girl I brought home, with her collection of becoming. I don’t have a lot of wealth, but I have a lot of crap. Earrings that I bought during various phases of optimism. Books that I’ve accumulated like some people collect frequent flyer 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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Episode 4: The Boy Who Wanted To Save The World
And I was just trying to survive Wednesdays Worn into the neighbourhood like memory We lived in the same neighbourhood, but I’d never met him. Our fathers, however, were walking buddies, united by a shared fondness for early mornings, rising cholesterol, and spirited complaints about inflation and their adult children.Their daily route was short, but 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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Episode 2: The Boy Who Objected to My Nose Pin
The one who said ‘Oh. Your nose. The arch, the traffic, the twilight. A fork in the road I didn’t take. Image Credit For the longest time, I believed the only thing standing between me and hotness was a nose pin.Not confidence. Not better lighting. Not therapy. Just a little stud on my right nostril. Continue reading
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Episode 1: The Boy Who Sang
The one who found me emotionally underqualified Dadar station, behind the grill. Like every near-miss, framed but unfinished. Image Credit Yes, he aspired to be a singer.Yes, which was a strange choice of profession for a good Indian boy. But the real surprise was this: my parents were the ones who set me up with him. I’d Continue reading
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