Flaunt with Grace

 Raksha Bandhan has always been about one promise - "I will protect you." But the way we make that promise has changed completely. If you grew up listening to your mom's stories from the 80s, you know Rakhi was a very different festival back then. The 1980s Era: Simple, Slow, and Soulful -  In the 80s, Raksha Bandhan was a home festival- The Rakhi itself: There were no designer rakhis. It was a simple red thread, sometimes with a small plastic flower or peacock in the center. The same thread was bought from the local market for Rs. 2-5. The value was in the emotion, not the design.  The Wait for the Postman: This was the biggest emotion. If a sister was married and lived in another city, she would post the rakhi 10-12 days in advance. The brother would wait for the postman every day. That envelope with a folded letter, a Rs. 51 or Rs. 101 note, and a rakhi inside was pure excitement. The Gift: There was no Amazon Wishlist. The gift was practical. A new suit for the sis...

7 din pehle jhanda lehraya. Anthem baja. Speech hui "vikas" aur "azadi" ki. Humne DP pe tiranga lagaya. Post kiya "Proud to be Indian". Aur phir wapas wahi zindagi. Toh sawaal ye hai: Azaadi hai kahan? 1. Kya hum dar se azaad hain? Har hafte koi na koi news. Koi rape. Koi beti ghar nahi laut paayi. Hum apni behenon se kehte hain "jaldi ghar aa jana". "Location share karna". Ye azaadi hai? Apne hi sheher me dar ke jeena? Azaadi ka matlab ye hona chahiye ki ek ladki raat ko akele bus le sake. "Na" bolna kaafi ho. Hum abhi wahan nahi pahunche. 2. Kya hum berozgari se azaad hain? Ek haath me degree. Dusre haath me resume. Aur inbox me rejection. Engineer cab chala raha hai. Post-graduate chowkidar ki job ke liye form bhar raha hai. "Young India" bolte hain, par kaam nahi dete. Azaadi ka matlab ye hona chahiye ki padhai ke baad izzat ki naukri mile. EMI ke liye nahi, sapno ke liye kaam karein. Kitne log abhi bhi us azaadi...

 Where cedar forests, valley views, and slow living replace the rush of Shimla town If Mall Road’s crowds aren’t your idea of a hill holiday, head 32 km / ∼75 minutes uphill from Shimla to Theog. At ∼2,300 meters / 7,200 ft, Taj Theog Resort & Spa sits on a forested ridge surrounded by deodar, cedar, and apple orchards. It’s Taj’s first Himachal property and it’s designed for one thing: giving you back the mountains, minus the noise.  The Beauty: Cedar Forests, Churdhar Views & Starry Nights -   The resort blends colonial architecture with Himachali wood + stone detailing. Think slate roofs, French windows, wool rugs, and warm interiors that feel like a luxury mountain cabin.All 97 rooms and suites have a view — 87 face the valley, 10 open to the courtyard. From your balcony you’ll watch mist roll through cedar trees in the morning, clouds drift through the Churdhar mountain range by afternoon, and a clear, star-filled sky at night. It’s silent here. No traff...

 There are two different kinds of happiness that live inside every family. Both are tied to the same thing — growing old. But they feel worlds apart. When Parents Watch Us Grow Old For our parents, watching us grow old is victory.   Every birthday candle we blow out is proof that they did something right. When we were 5, their happiness was our first steps. At 15, it was us passing exams without them sitting next to us. At 25, it’s us paying our own rent, cooking without burning the dal, choosing kindness when no one’s watching. Their happiness is loud, even when they say nothing. It’s in the extra piece of paneer they slide onto your plate. It’s in the way your dad forwards job openings at 11 PM. It’s in your mom saying “beta, you’ve lost weight” while she’s never been prouder.                                      To them, us growing old means we survived. We figured it out. We...

 I never believed in the idea of a “type.” I had a list — probably the same list every girl has at 20. Tall, maybe. Funny, definitely. Mysterious, brooding, the kind of person who’d text back three days later and somehow make it feel romantic. I thought love was supposed to feel like a storm. Chaotic, unpredictable, the kind that keeps you up at night.  Then I met him. And he was… none of that. He was the person I never thought of. The plot twist I didn’t see coming. And now I understand something I wish someone had told me earlier: sometimes you fall in love with the person you never thought of, and that’s the whole point. He didn’t walk into my life with fireworks. There was no movie-scene meet-cute. He was just… there. Consistent. Kind in a way that didn’t feel like performance. He asked questions and actually waited for the answers. He remembered the small things — how I take my chai, that I hate loud chewing, that my bad days usually start with silence.  He’s a green...

We think we choose our paths. But sometimes, the path chooses us, then changes us, then sends us forward as someone new. Mine started in a school corridor and has wound its way through college lecture halls, the buzzing counters of Bikanerwala in Chandigarh, the quiet luxury of Taj in the mountains, and now back to the planned streets of Chandigarh. Here’s what each stop took from me, and what it gave back. School: The World With Four Walls   School was certainty. The same bell, same bench, same friends who knew my tiffin before I opened it. Life was divided into periods and the biggest risk was forgetting your homework.   I was safe there. Predictable. I measured worth in red ticks and gold stars. I thought growing up meant getting taller, not getting lost. School taught me discipline, yes, but it also taught me to fear mistakes. I didn’t know then that mistakes are where the real syllabus begins.  When I left, I thought I was ready for the world. I wasn’t. But...

  Well, I loved the cover of this book…it’s so romantic and beautiful, isn’t it? 😉 I was so much excited to read it.I could actually feel the pain, love, emotions & all the things that has written in that book. ❤ . Your Dreams are Mine Now is a beautifully written teenage love story.  Its a fictional tale which draws inspiration from a real life incident Delhi’s Nirbhaya Rape Case that shook the nation by storm a couple of years back. The main characters of this book are Rupali Sinha and Arjun.                                Rupali is a young innocent girl from Patna dreams of getting into college she always wanted to join. So she steps on the ground of DU with her dreams. She is different from Delhi girls. She is not a bit fashionable, her simplicity reflects by her dressing sense. She is intelligent, beautiful, smart and a lovely soul. During one of her first days at college she plants a “Tu...