In 2010 I went for Vipassana. I was between jobs. It was Karunakar, my mentor, who strongly suggested to me. I was in my early 20’s, hormones kicking, enjoying salaried life on alcohol and consumerism: the advice for meditation retreat made no sense. I cannot say no to Karunakar: I registered for ten days of …
Category Archives: India
IAS
I want to become an IAS officer, said Mahesh. A tall, healthy fellow wearing thick glasses welcomed me as I picked my Uber from the airport. I was returning from an early morning connecting flight from Mumbai. Mahesh is from western Karnataka and studying a bachelor’s in history from correspondence. He asked me where I …
Maasi
Come during day time, don’t take the late-night train, my maasi looked worried as she uttered this. She lives in a village which is 3 km from the nearby railway station. Summers in Bihar are painful because of heat, mosquitoes, power cuts. I was done with my class 8th exams and had 60 days of …
breath
I can’t live with your parents, said Nandini. Ishan and Nandini got married after seven years of courtship. The intercaste marriage took a lot of convincing from both sides. Ishan met Nandini during their bachelor’s degree. Both work at consulting now and are financially settled. Nandini’s great grandfather fought with Britishers during the Champaran movement. …
highway
Ramkumar would be 5 ft tall, wearing a black kurta pajama, turban, and loverly smile on his face. He looked perfect for Instagram, just I had no smartphone, and we were in the Orkut era. He was preparing the fire as November evening gets much colder in north India. I was with Ashish on our …
bhool gaye
Kya hum bhool gaye unhe, kya humne dafan kar diya unko- unke kurbaniyoo ke sang? Desh ko banane wale un kaargaar kisanoo aur majduroo ko, marne diya humne unko raste pe, chor diya unko unke badkismatee pe. Kya thi galti unke? Paida hue the wo garib, adham ya jaati dand bhog rahe the samaaj ka? …
price
I have been told time and again by my friends that Indian customers are stringy to price. Most haggle irrespective of their income or wealth. My friends say we Indians don’t have the desire to progress or willingness to pay. We like to continue doing donkey work rather than paying for automation. I do not …
few
India is over a billion population. We have our unique challenges. Not all copy clone business ideas or solutions for a problem works. That is why few winners are solving local problems. From Fintech to Agritech to E-commerce, the way business is done in our country is unique. I understand quitting is easy but a …
Self herding
How many times did you end up buying a bigger or newer costlier coffee at your favorite roaster? You will know only if you check your expenditure on coffee. You repeated your own behavior and ended up drinking costlier coffee in bigger mugs. But what about the sample coffee barista offered you? Well congratulations, you …
Loneliness
How many of us crave for more people in our life? How many of us want to be part of social gathering? How many of us miss our childhood days? We were experimenting more without any fear. With the emergence of the internet and smartphones, we are more connected than before. But from inside we …