Skip to content
Recently I read a post about the 4 Burners theory.
The genesis was that successful people have sacrificed one of their burners. Success is not balance. The goal in one’s life should not be success, instead it should be choice. What matters the most.
This birthday did not arrive with excitement or expectation.
It arrived like a pause: quiet, intentional.
Less a celebration, more a moment to check in with the person I’ve been becoming.
Nothing in a marriage changes overnight.
It shifts quietly; like a habit you don’t remember forming, but instinctively follow.
In the beginning, being together feels intentional. You adapt easily. You adjust schedules, tastes, even opinions. Not because you’re asked to, but because alignment feels natural. What we call love early on is often willingness, before routine makes it automatic.
We change meal habits, tolerate unfamiliar television shows, and recalibrate what “on time” meant. It didn’t feel like compromise then. It felt temporary.
My mother has a serious weakness for crockery.
Not the kind that comes in matching sets but the kind that sneaks into suitcases from everywhere she travelled. London, Dubai, Kashmir, Singapore. If a city had an airport, a market, or a vaguely interesting shop, chances were a plate or cup was coming home. Our crockery cabinet was always full of stories. Each plate holding a memory, each cup carrying a journey.
Raising kids is only the warm-up act.
Somewhere between turning 40 and figuring out collagens and serum, my life took an unexpected turn: I realised I am now parenting two generations at the same time.
I was in a meeting with my boss and my then 5-6 year old had called to complain how his older brother did not stand-by him when he wanted a window seat in the meeting. I felt very apologetic and expressed it to my boss, that I had to handle this in the middle of an important discussion. And he said: Enjoy as it lasts, Once you are an empty nester, you will miss this.
Every workplace has meeting rooms, coffee corners, and open desks places where collaboration happens. But there’s one space that reveals more than we think: the bathroom. It’s where people escape, emote, and sometimes, simply exist unfiltered.
Last weekend, my husband and I sat down to watch the much-talked-about AI-powered Mahabharat on JioHotstar. The visuals were undeniably breathtaking. The palaces shimmered with divine grandeur, and every screen looked as if painted by celestial hands. Yet, something felt missing. The grandeur was there, but the soul wasn’t.
Today I was sad, as I overheard my mom tell dad, I do not listen, do not obey, and do not follow rules. So I decided to open the rule book and follow it to the T. Rule no. 1 as I read – “Do not watch TV while eating”. I remembered the day it…
