The festive season doesn’t have to derail your fitness. Skip the perfectionism and toxic detoxes: keep moving, prioritise protein and vegetables, enjoy the treats you genuinely love, avoid mindless grazing and leftover traps, and don’t panic over temporary post-festival weight gain. Celebrate freely, return to your routine, and let fitness fit into real life.
This deeply personal story challenges India’s colourism by highlighting the contradiction of worshipping dark-skinned Krishna and Jagannath while judging dark-skinned children. Through her daughter Megha’s experiences, the author reflects on inherited prejudice, motherhood, and self-acceptance, ultimately celebrating the beauty, confidence, and divinity of embracing one’s natural complexion.
Festive food is never just about eating – it carries memories, traditions, emotions, family, and the warmth of celebrations. The leftovers become a delicious reminder of moments shared with loved ones. Rather than feeling guilty about indulging, the piece encourages us to savour these little pleasures and hold onto the festival just a little longer.
The story chronicles a family’s terrifying battle with their mother’s cancer, from the despair surrounding a high-risk surgery to an unexpected encounter that led them to Mumbai’s Siddhivinayak Temple. Their prayers became a source of strength and faith. Six years later, their mother thrives, transforming fear into gratitude, devotion, resilience, and grace
The Bengali tape-jama was more than a child’s summer dress – it was a beautifully practical expression of Bengal’s climate, culture and childhood. Made from breathable cotton and often adorned with delicate embroidery, it embodied comfort and simplicity. Its decline reflects changing aspirations and fashion, raising a poignant question: in embracing novelty, have we forgotten the wisdom of simplicity?
The piece explores how modern communication often suffers from a lack of genuine listening. True communication requires more than speaking—it demands empathy, curiosity, patience and attention to both words and unspoken emotions. Whether within families or between citizens and governments, listening without judgement creates understanding, trust and healthier relationships.
The human heart possesses an astonishing, almost terrifying capacity to carry grief across decades, yet it remains extremely fragile when caught in the relentless, indifferent
A chance airport reunion reunites two former lovers a decade after their painful separation. Honest conversations reveal that fear, not lack of love, ended their relationship. With time, both have built fulfilling lives, discovering that true closure comes through understanding, gratitude, and accepting that some love stories are meant to end in peace.
The piece argues that India’s decline is not solely the fault of governments or leaders, but also of citizens who have quietly accepted corruption, injustice, poor infrastructure and moral compromise. As we celebrate 80 years of Independence, it calls for collective accountability, integrity and active citizenship rather than silence, adjustment and blame.
In a world of endless scrolling and instant access, we have gained convenience but perhaps lost something precious: the joy of discovery, patience and human connection. From books and handwritten letters to memorising numbers and experiencing moments fully, the writer reflects on how technology has quietly replaced the simple magic of yesterday.
