Looking back

By
The whole internet is abuzz with how within the next a month and a half a decade will be ending. The discussions are around what all has everyone achieved in this decade. This made me think a lot. For starters I felt I have not achieved anything substantial but on more thinking I concluded, who defines substantial. I believe I have achieved a lot and so decided to document it here, just to remind myself how smallest of things actually add up to make the biggest of difference to one's life.

“We’re so wrapped up with egotistical things, career, family, having enough money, meeting the mortgage, getting a new car, fixing the radiator when it breaks—we’re involved in trillions of little acts just to keep going. So we don’t get into the habit of standing back and looking at our lives and saying, Is this all? Is this all I want? Is something missing?” 

― Mitch Albom, Tuesdays with Morrie


Image Source: unsplash.com


1.Discovered writing. This blog was born in 2011 and since then writing has been the biggest comforting factor for me till date and am sure it is going to be so, forever.

2. Got published. I have been published in close to nine anthologies and three solo titles of my own. Best part is there are many more in the pipeline. I have also been writing for various online publications since last few years apart from completing 1.5 novels. Got selected for some prestigious writing workshops. 

3. Quit my corporate career and moved across 4 cities and 2 countries.

4. Travelled across 3 countries extensively.

5. Lost myself only to find myself again, this time to never lose it ever.

6. Let go of a lot of toxic people, toxic relationships and one sided affections which were more harmful than helpful.

7. Became a solopreneur

8. Discovered my true calling and learnt to listen to my inner voice.

Most importantly, healed... a lot.

If in this decade, all I did was hold onto life and survive it was enough. For there were usual ups and downs, some horrifying ones that felt like the end of the world while some minor scratches which were like a rude wake up call. Despite it all, life seems good.

“If I had done this, if I had said that, in the end you are always more tormented by what you didn't do than what you did, actions already performed can always be rationalized in time, the neglected deed might have changed the world.” ― Damon Galgut


The possibilities of what could have and what should have are many, but then I guess one needs to find joy in the fact that life is kind.

Popular posts from this blog

Essay: How to mourn the loss of love?

By
Image
Image Source: Unsplash.com I remember the first time I mourned the loss of love was when I was eleven.  For me, dance was love at that time. I had discovered a strange joy as I glided in and out of those movements. Every time I swirled; I could feel my heart soar. Any beat that strained to reach my ears, tempted me to move my body to its tune. I just knew I was born to dance and that is the only thing I wanted to do, all my life.  I had my reasons to believe so and a very simple one at that. It made me happy. That was a reason enough. However, my father thought otherwise. Girls from good families, do not dance. That line was enough to break all those rosy dreams of dancing on a stage. The day my brother was sent to the same dance class which was not good for me, was the day I experienced heartbreak for the first time.  That is the day I mourned the loss of my first love- Dance. 
Keep reading »

Diary of a Lost Wanderer - Lost & Found

By
Image
Dear Diary, I fell in love with Mumbai when I first visited it in 1995. Bombay, as it was then known, fascinated me since then.  If you ask me what made me fall in love with this city, I perhaps cannot explain. It wasn't that I was seeing the sea for the first time. It wasn't even the biggest city I had been to till then. Still, there was something so magical about this place. The trip was a short one lasting less than a week but this city now had my heart. Years later, I arrived here all alone on my first solo trip in 2005 and fell in love all over again. I got my first job and was required to come to Mumbai frequently. The local trains, the chaos on the roads, the crowds, the humdrum, the salty smell in the air, the stale air- everything about this city was intoxicating for me. 
Keep reading »

Metro Diaries: The Art of Making Love

By
Image
Image Source: Unpexels (Cottonbro) “Do you know why is it called making love?” He whispered, pulling the comforter closer.  I don’t remember for how long we had been in that room, on that bed. Lying aimlessly, just feeling each other in silence. I managed to just whimper to denote my curiosity.   “Because that is the moment we create love. We are the closest we could ever be to love, in its purest form. It is sheer magic as we are naked, in every form. Mentally, physically and emotionally before that one person, we love. We know they can hurt us, as much as they want to, in the way they want to. But love gives us that power to trust them, that they won’t.”   “And here I was thinking it is a need. Something you want at that moment and you get it!” 
Keep reading »