I used to think success was mostly about effort. Study harder. Work longer.prepare better,and eventually the result would follow. It is comforting because it makes life feel predictable. If I fail. I can blame myself for not trying enough, and if someone succeeds. I can assume they simply worked harder. But the older I get, the more I notice how much luck quietly participates in people's lives. Two people can work equally hard and still end up in completely different places because one happened toeet the right person find the right opportunity or simply because in the right place at the right time. Someone gets an internship because a relative knows someone in the company. Another discovers an opportunity because a friend happened to share it at exactly the right moment.
Even education mak…
I still remember the day my exam result was supposed to come out. I had worked hard for it, but somewhere in my heart, I already had a fear that I might not get the marks I expected.
When the result finally appeared on my phone, my hands were shaking. I opened it and saw my marks. They were much lower than I had hoped for.
For a few seconds, I just stared at the screen.I felt embarrassed and disappointed. I started comparing myself with my friends. Some of them had scored much better than me, and I couldn't stop thinking, “Maybe I am not good enough.”That evening, I didn't feel like talking to anyone. I even avoided my family because I was afraid they would be disappointed in me.
But my father noticed that something was wrong. He sat beside me and asked, “What happened?”I showed him my res…
This is a story about the exact second I realized…
This is a story about the exact second I realized my father was no longer invincible.The house smelled like burnt toast and cheap black coffee.It was a Sunday morning in late October.Sunlight cut across the linoleum floor in dusty stripes.My father sat at the wooden table.
He tried to lift his heavy ceramic mug.His fingers did not listen to him right away.Coffee spilled over the white rim and pooled on the wood.For forty years, those hands built stone walls and fixed car engines.Now, they trembled under the weight of an empty cup.He did not look at me.He just wiped the dark liquid with a paper towel.His shoulders were curved inward, smaller than I remembered.A lump formed in my throat.Time had stolen his strength while I was busy growing up.
Nobody spoke for a long time.I walked over and t…
There was a message I wrote a hundred times but never had the courage to send.
It wasn’t anything complicated. Just a few honest words that I had been carrying for a long time.
I wanted to say that I missed how things used to be. I wanted to ask if they ever thought about me too.I wanted to know whether I still mattered or if I had become just another forgotten name in their life.
But every time I opened the chat, I stopped.
What if they didn’t care anymore?
What if my message became an inconvenience?
What if the silence that already hurt became even worse after I heard their answer?
So I kept deleting the words.
Days turned into weeks, and eventually I stopped checking the chat.
Not because I stopped caring, but because I realized that sometimes you can care about someone and still choo…
It was a cold winter morning, and I was standing at a bus stop waiting for my bus to college. I was already late, so I was feeling irritated. I kept checking myphone again and again, hoping the bus would arrive soon
. There was an old man sitting on the bench beside me. His clothes weresimple, and he had a small cloth bag in his hands. He looked tired, but he had a peaceful smile on his face.
After some time, he asked me, “Beta, is this bus going towards the hospital?”I was in a hurry and honestly didn't want to talk. I simply said, “I don't know,” and went back to looking at my phone.
A few minutes later, I noticed that he was still standing there, looking at every bus carefully. Suddenly, I felt a little guilty. I asked him why he needed to go to the hospital.
He quietly replied, “My wif…
The hardest part is just getting there.
5:30am , alarm rings, and honestly getting out of bed feels like the biggest workout sometime😭
But once you make it and reach the spot that makes you feel welcomed/just happy( for me personally it’s Lalbagh) everything changes!
The cool breeze, the shade from those huge old trees. The lake just sitting at the centre with cute ducks paddling around like they have absolutely nowhere to be😂. Squirrels running around, birds already awake and sweet chirping sounds thats makes you forget about everything and makes you breath into that moment. All of a sudden your very proud and glad that you made it!
In this busy world this is something everybody deserves, you don’t have to run miles just step outside your bed and have a morning talk with the nature …
I never thought that one ordinary evening could change the way I looked at my mother.
I was 19 when I started feeling that my mother did not understand me. Whenever I wanted to go out with my friends, she would ask too many questions. When I used my phone late atnight, she would tell me to put it away. Sometimes, I felt that she was stopping me from enjoying my life.One evening, I had an argument with her. I was angry and said, “You neverunderstand me. You only know how to say no.”She became quiet. She didn't argue back. She simply went into the kitchen.
I remember feeling proud of myself for a few minutes. I thought I had finally told her what I really felt.
That night, I went to the kitchen to get some water. I saw her sitting alone, checking some old medicine bills and counting money fr…
yesterday, i was supposed to go to my therapist for a final closing session.
A while aback, around 2-3 years ago, I started having severe panic attacks, anxiety attacks and insomnia to the point that i went a week together without a single hour of sleep. My blood pressure was always high, my mind always working, feeling like it was eating itself out.
My life felt like a big failure, my entire existence a burden. My parents saw me suffer, watched as my breathings hiked up and down, my body started to shake, my teeth cluttering and my mind shattered. I cried every night hysterically begging for my mom to put me yo sleep somehow with tears falling down my cheeks and the night turning into duak and dusk turning into full fledged beaming sunlight.
my mom and dad, saw this for a while and even…
"I stare at a blank white page and all I feel is the weight of what I’m 'supposed' to be doing. There’s this constant pressure to have the perfect career map, to build the ideal skill set, and to seamlessly transition into the next big life milestone.But honestly? Tonight I am just exhausted. I don't want to map out my entire future right now.
I just want to sit in the quiet empty space for a moment without feeling guilty that I haven't written the next chapter yet."
Is anyone else exhausted by the constant pressure to have everything "figured out"?
On paper, things are fine. But beneath the routine, there’s this quiet lingering feeling that I’m just performing my own life instead of living it. I’m trying to figure out if this is just a phase or a signal that something needs to change.How do you tell the difference between being burnt out and simply needing a new direction?
Today I took the morning bus instead of booking a cab, mostly because I was trying to save money. I expected the usual crowd, noise, and traffic. But somewhere between the bus stop and my destination, the journey turned into one of those dYs that stays in your mind.
The bus arrived already half full. People squeezed in anyway, because apparently there is always room for one more person. I found a place near the window and watched the street move past. School children adjusted theirbbags, an old man counted coins, and a woman quietly balanced a steel container.
At the next stop, a woman got in carrying a basket of jasmine flowes. She sat down , took out a thin thread, and began stringing the flowers together with astonishing speed. Her fingers moved automatically while she chatted with anot…
So today was supposed to be the day our college hackathon project finally worked properly. We had spent nearly two weeks building an AI - based system for detecting potholes and helping authorties prioritize road repairs. We arrived carrying laptops, chargers, snacks and confidence that disappeared surprisingly quickly.
The first problem appeared before we even finished setting up. Our application refused to connect to the backend. I restarted everything twice checked the configuration and stared at the screen as though the error might become embarrassed and disappear. My teammates were equally confused. We had eight hours left.
The morning became a competitive against time.One teammate worked on the frontend while another checked the mechine learning model. I stayed with the backend, read…
I sometimes wonder why ordinary people are expected to treat taxes as an unavoidable responsibility while the richest people seem to have entire teams dedicated to finding ways around them.For someone earning a modest salary every deduction is visible. There is little room to rearrange finances ,hide income , or exploit complicated loopholes.
I am not against wealthy people being wealthy. If someone built a successful company, created something valuable, or earned their fortune legally, good for them . What bothers me is the idea that having more money should somehow mean having more opportunities to avoid contributing proportionately to the society that helped create that wealth.
A salaried employee cannot simply negotiate with the tax system. Their income is recorded, deductions happen a…
Since I was a kid I used to like science as i passed my 10th standard, I chose science as my career but being in India and choosing any career-specific science field seems scary.. As I passed my 12th standard, I appeared for NEET it was 2025 i didn’t get a seat for MBBS.. As I thought I was the one not prepared properly for the exam, I took a gap yr and prepared for the 2026 NEET it went well i was happy but soon the paper got leaked on a mass level and it got cancelled.. I got a shock; I was not prepared for this .. but as we have to move forward in life i also did that tho i was not mentally prepared for re neet i still gave it .. and it did not got well .. I was hopeless and shattered it made me question myself but after thinking for a month i chose mbbs abroad.. i think the life in abr…
Maybe you all will think I am being selfish or ungrateful, but as an elder daughter, I can tell you I have always put my family before myself because that’s what matters most to me. I love them so much that if they tell me to die, I will.. After listening to my dad for my 18 years of life now I have chosen myself i chose my freedom..
-DO I DESERVE TO BE HAPPY???
-AM I CAPABLE ENOUGH???
-WHY DOES ALWAYS COMES TO ME??
AM I THAT BAD??
-WISH THEY COULD GET A BETTER DAUGHTER..
- AM I THAT BAD??
-WILL I BE ABLE TO MAKE MY PARENTS PROUD??
-AM I SO HARD TO LOVE??
-WILL I ACHIEVE THIER HAPPINESS??
There are some days in India that begin differently from ordinary days. Rakhi is one of them.
You wake up earlier than you usually would, take a bath, get ready, and somehow the entire house already feels like it is preparing for something. I have always followed the little rule of not eating anything before tying Rakhi to my brothers. There is also a muhurt attached to it, which means there is a certain time by which the Rakhi is supposed to be tied. So, even before the actual celebration begins, there is this small sense of urgency in the house.
And then, slowly, the house starts filling up.
Relatives arrive. The bua comes, more people walk in. Someone is asking where something has been kept, someone is calling someone else from another room, someone is laughing, and someone is already c…
Some days are just… normal.
No big moment, no sudden realization, nothing that feels worth talking about.Just small things, one after the other, that don’t seem like much while they’re happening. Today felt like that.
I spent a lot of time trying to understand things, going back and forth, rereading, figuring stuff out slowly. It wasn’t hard exactly, just not very clear at first. And that in-between feeling—where you’re not completely lost but not fully sure either—can be a little frustrating. At some point, I caught myself thinking that I should be doing better. Like I should already understand everything, or be faster, or more confident.But the truth is, that’s not how it works. At least not for me.
I think we don’t really talk about these kinds of days. The ones where nothing looks imp…
I sometimes wonder how much a person can change without even noticing it.A few years ago, I had completely different dreams, different fears, different friendships,
and a completely different idea of who I wanted to become. I thought growing up meant having everything figured out. Now I realise it mostly means learning to be comfortable with not
having all the answers.I am still figuring myself out.There are days when I feel confident about my
future, and there are days when I question almost everything. Some days I feel like I can achieve anything, while on others, even the smallest task feels difficult. But perhaps that is normal.We are constantly told to become better versions of ourselves, but nobody really talks about how confusing that process can be.
Sometimes becoming stronger m…
The Strange Pressure of Having Your Life Figured Out
There is a strange age where everyone suddenly starts asking you what you want to do with your life.
What are you going to become?What career are you choosing?Where do you see yourself in five years?
What are your plans?And somehow, you are expected to have a perfect answer.
The funny part is that most of us are still trying to figure out what we want to eat for dinner.
Growing up, I thought adulthood would come with some sort of instruction manual. I imagined that one day I would simply wake up and know exactly who I was, what I wanted, and where I was going. But the older I get, the more I realize that almost nobody actuallyknows what they are doing. Some people are just better at pretending they do.There is so much pressure to be successful early. Social media makes it worse. You see pe…
When I am left with few breathes,
The last breathe I am waiting for,
the death no one wants,
Come to me once, hold my hand tightly,
We'll recall our journey,
The journey that's filled with love,
The journey that's filled with pain,
The journey that's filled with sacrifice,
For one last time I look at those eyes
Which made me worth living,
Before my heart halts it's beats,
Which never beats your name again,
I'll let you know you were always my first priority,
I'll let you know i made best memory with you,
I'll let you know my love for you is eternal,
with no regrets left behind,
I take the last Glance of you,
And lay my self in peace .
When I was 16 years old in 11 th grade , my sister gave me a Skincare set as a birthday present . It included a moisturiser , a serum , and a sunscreen . I didn’t really thought of it that much at that given time But it did do wonders . I actually thought this was all rubbish , mostly because people and kids around me who were of the same age , didn’t used any Skincare products so it thought of it as a waste . It was only many years laters I realised how important that thing is , Nowadays where pollution and air quality index is skyrocketing and it’s nearly impossible to stay out in the sun without dirt ,roadside construction air and germs sticking to our faces , this thing called skincare is actually very benifical . I remember my first product was niacinamide serum , moisturiser and Sun…
I have always fell that the would is much bigger than the little corner of it that I know sometimes, I look at pictures of distant places, hear someone speaking a language I cannot understand, or watch a video about a completely different culture. And I find myself woundering what it would actually feel like to be there . It is not just the desire to take beautiful pictures or visit famous tourist attractions.bi want to experience the world with curiosity to see how differently people live, think, eat,celebrate, communicate, and understand life.
One of the things I look forward to the most is food . I want to sit in small local restaurants, try dishes I have never heard of taste unfamiliar spices and understand the stories behind traditional recipes. I want to know what people eat at home…
We often think progress has to look like something big. We imagine reaching a major goal, changing our life completely, or finally becoming the person we have always wanted to be. Because of this, we sometimes overlook the little things we do every day. Getting out of bed on a difficult morning, choosing to try again after failing, speaking kindly to ourselves, or simply making it through a day that felt heavy can all be forms of progress. Not every change is obvious from the outside. Sometimes, growth happens quietly, without anyone noticing. You might realize that something that once broke your heart does not hurt as much anymore, or that you no longer feel the need to explain yourself to everyone. Maybe you have started setting boundaries, trusting yourself, or walking away from things …
I love. Myself. Saying that still feels strongly uncomfortable because we are often taught that loving ourselves too openly sounds arrogant. We are expected to be humble, aware of our flaws,band constantly trying to improve. But somewhere along the way, I realised that acknowledgeing my flaws and loving myself so not have to be opposites. I know myself better than anyone else possibly can . I know the mistakes. I have made the things I regret, the fears I hide, and the thoughts I would never explain completely to another person. I have seen myself at my best and, unfortunately at my worst. Yet after knowing all of that , I still choose myself.
I don't love myself because I think I am perfect. I know I am not. There are days when I overthing compare myself to people who seem to have their l…
we have always been a nuclear family. But a few years back, we had to shift back into our joint family in account of my dad’s going away to work for another country. My mom, my brother and I, relocated to our ancestral home and had to live with my two uncles and aunts who were my dads elder brothers.
Since my dad was the youngest, we too were the youngest of the cousins.
Before this, whenever we visited, these people were the sweetest on the planet but now, now that we were invading their “privacy,” suddenly we became the thorns on a rose that nobody really wanted. Perhaps dad was the rose that was missing and now in his absence, us, the thirns were more clearly visible.
My eldest uncle, who was “incharge” of our food needs, on some occasions on purpose, “forgit to bring us food, while h…
I used to think being alone was something people were supposed to avoid. Sitting by yourself seemed sad, eating alone seemed embarrassing and going somewhere without company felt like something that needed an explanation. We are constantly surrounded by the idea that a good life should be full of people, conversations, plans, notificationa, and someone waiting beside us. But being alone and being lonely are not the same thing.
I can spend an entire afternoon alone and feel completely peaceful. I can read a book. Listen to music go for a walk, sit near a window, or simply do nothing without feeling that something is missing. In those moments, being alone does not feel like emptiness. It feels like having enough space to hear my own thoughts. When I am alone, I don't have to perform. I don'…
There is a mirror in my house that has probably seen more versions of me than most people ever will. It has watched me stand in front of it as a child, barely tall enough to see my full reflection. It has seen me before school, with my hair hurriedly fixed and my bag hanging from one shoulder. It has seen me trying or clothes, making strange faces,practicing imaginary conversations, and occasionally staring at myself as if the person in the reflection were someone I was still trying to understandthe mirror has never said anything. That is perhaps why I trust it.
People have opinions. They tell you when you have changed ,though sometimes they only means you no longer behave in a way that is familiar to them. They notice your appearance, your achievements. Your failures and the versions of y…
Maybe to everyone else it’s just a cup of coffee . Something oridinary , something people drink to wake up, to stay awake, or simply because they like the taste.
But for me coffee has always felt like a little more than that. It has been there on mornings when getting out of bed felt like a task, on afternoons when everything felt too heavy, and on late nights when my thoughts were louder than the world around me.
There is something comforting about holding a warm cup in my hands. For a few minutes I don’t have to figure everything out. I don’t have to know what I’m doing with my life, where I’m going, or why certain things happened the way they did. I can just sit there, take a sip, and breathe. And somehow in that tiny moment life feels a little less complicated.
Coffee has been there d…
I had a list of names in my head. Seven names. They felt like magic words from a story. Giza. Babylon. Olympia. Ephesus. I wanted to see them all. The Seven Wonders of the world.
Most of them are gone now. They are just empty spaces. I went to the places where they used to be. I stood in the dirt and the sun and tried to see them in my mind.
In one place, there were just broken pieces of stone. A great king's tomb was once there. Now, lizards run over the warm rocks. In another place, there was just a harbor. A giant man made of metal used to stand over the water. Now, it's just blue water and little boats.
The old writers wrote about how big the wonders were. How much gold they had. How everyone would look at them and feel small. They didn't write about the quiet that comes after. They…
