I remember the first time my mother showed me a young peepal tree, a plant really; it couldn’t have had more than ten young leaves. The plant had sprouted up on the roof of a mangy abandoned temporary brick shelter in an empty site. My mother then drew my attention to the roots of the plant. I couldn’t believe my eyes. The thin slender plant has heavy roots the size of my fists, some even thicker. They spread all across the roof of the brick structure, snaking towards the ground. Nothing less than a small axe, a lot of sweat and time, could get that plant out of the ground.

Something that looked so fragile and perishable had such a powerful deep-rooted hold onto life, into reality. It was deceptively strong.

The last few days, I’ve been spotting a lot of these peepal saplings – on sidewalks, in cracked walls, at the edge of road dividers.

Progress is like that. It isn’t seen in a lot of places. Where it is, it doesn’t have a large physical presence. But its roots go deep and it’s nearly impossible to remove or reverse. Continue reading “History has its eyes on you” →

Dreams are the soul’s fuel. Our dreams drive us to what we desire. They hold great power over our lives. With dreams, our lives burn as bright as the sun and as devastatingly beautiful as lightning storms.

Contrary to popular belief, dreaming is a very important exercise. The right dream can be like a surge of electricity, driving you to your chosen destiny, constantly giving you reasons to get out of bed everyday and work tirelessly towards your goal. Other dreams give you the priceless power to look like you’re concentrating while you’re actually just staring in the general direction of the teacher, occasionally nodding and pretending like you’re understanding, or even listening to what your teacher is talking about.

Either way, dreaming is imperative to your life. Continue reading “Dream Pursuit” →

I solemnly swear that I am up to no good.

Because today, I want to ruffle some feathers. I want to talk about something that everybody ignores and scoffs at. Something that nobody truly believes in.

Magic.

Today is a wonderful day to talk about magic.

Twenty years ago, on this very day, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone was released in the UK. To this day, Harry Potter’s legacy of magic – of the impossible, lives on. But is magic really so impossible? Continue reading “Magic Melds Reality” →

Life is a race. That is an unquestionable fact that has been a part of the very evolution of our species. Survival of the fittest. Or, should I say, survival of the fastest.

As a child, I absolutely loved the idea of races. When my family would travel long-distances by road, it was always my father in the driver’s seat, my mother in the shotgun, with my little sister and I in the back singing at the top of our voices without a care in the world. But as night fell and the long rows of yellow lights would light up on the highways, our impromptu concerts would give way to something more exciting – the thrilling race of being the first vehicle on the whole highway!

We would hang onto the backs of our parents’ seats, peering over their shoulders at the gleaming headlights of other vehicles on the highway and urge our father to overtake the vehicles ahead of us. We would crow with delight every time we left our competitors behind in the inky darkness of the night and groan with frustration when another vehicle cut in from a side road into the highway ahead of us. And when a vehicle would cut in from behind and move ahead of us, our anger knew no bounds! We were quite the fierce little competitors!

Our goal – to be the first car on the whole road with aaaaall the other vehicles behind us. Continue reading “Ready, Steady…. Go!” →

Expectation is my name. Quite literally. Google loosely translates ‘Apeksha’ to ‘expectation’, ‘future prospects’ and ‘hope’ in Sanskrit and its daughter languages. Expectation is a very important game changing variable in our life. What we expect, we look out for; what we look out for, we find; and what we find, we have in our life. This happens regardless of whether the object of our expectation is positive or negative.

It’s summer now, and expectation is in the air. Students in particular all go into summer with the expectation of change – we make summer resolutions of reading more, working out more, staying healthy, and basically just becoming more productive in general. We want to become a better version of ourselves by the time the next academic year rolls by.

But, often, we find ourselves snoozing our alarm clock, scrolling through Facebook with our phones in an open book and binge-watching Game of Thrones in bed. And that’s okay. Because if you don’t care enough to change something, it means you’re okay with it. And if you’re okay with it, then nobody else’s opinion matters. If you don’t want to wake up before the sun does to go out for a jog and see your life flashing in front of your eyes within the first five minutes, then cuddle in your warm blankets and sleep for those heavenly five more minutes. If you want to eat a whole carton of ice-cream while binge-watching your favourite TV show, then eat your ice cream and throw in a few frozen Gems or M&Ms in there because trust me, it’s heaven.

You do you. No pressure. Continue reading “Summer Expectations: Student Edition” →

Starting this blog was like starting a conversation with a stranger. The hardest part is saying hello. When you approach an unknown person with the intention of starting a conversation, it is like opening a Pandora’s box. You never know what it brings, but that it will definitely change something within you, be it small or big, for better or for worse. So this is me, reaching out and starting a conversation with you all out there. I will post something each week that I find interesting, impactful or just curious, hoping to get people talking. So come, say hello! Join the Conversation!