To me, every connection I have with people on the Internet must be intentional. Here are seven reasons to follow or unfollow me.
1. 🌱 Follow me if you are looking for authenticity in people. 2. 🎬 Follow me if you enjoy storytelling presented in video diary format. 3. 📚 Follow me if you are inspired by books, a lifestyle or growth in general. 4. ✨ Follow me if you love beautiful yet minimal visuals. 5. 💬 Unfollow me if you prefer light-hearted content I am a deep thinker. 6. 🌍 Unfollow me if you are a trend follower when I’m looking for something meaningful. 7. 🚀 Follow me if you want to discover new things together.
In the end, following or unfollowing is about being aligned.
This blog is sprinting its way to the finish line with Piyush’s Plotters as part of The Blogchatter Half Marathon!
Food is never just food it is condiment, memory, and sometimes a mirror of who I am. If you ever wonder what my personality tastes like, here are four snacks that tell my story better than my words.
🌶️ Vada Pav: Street Food Comfort There is something magical about sinking your teeth into a hot vada pav at a hustling and bustling street corner. Messy, spicy, and very much alive, vada pav reignites the moments of joy with the idea that happiness can be simple and requires only a few main ingredients – spices, bread, and laughter.
🥪 Sandwiches: My Daily Versatility Sandwiches are my ultimate comfort food. There is something truly comforting about eating a cheesy corn sandwich, making every bite incredibly delicious. Then there is the mayo veg sandwich — fresh and creamy. It reflects my love of balancing flavors in a meal.
Sev: Flavor and Crunch Sev is my guilty pleasure. It is unbearably crunchy, spicy, and hard to resist. It reminds me that life can be fun because of its textures. Just like sev adds unique flavor to chaats, I believe that little surprises make life exciting.
🥗 Namkeen Mix: A Mixed Bag My all-time favorite is Navratan mix and pipes. Each handful is a surprise! At one moment it may be nutty, the next it may be spicy, and at another sweet. This tells me that I have a lot of admixture of experiences in life; each moment brings a different mood and something new in my life, a different story.
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✨ Together, these snacks are not just food; they are a representation of comfort, creativity, crunch, and variety. If you want to know me better, just share a plate of vada pav or a cheese corn sandwich with me, and you’ll know what I mean.
This blog is sprinting its way to the finish line with Piyush’s Plotters as part of The Blogchatter Half Marathon!
Personal growth consists of progress not end goals, and for me, it’s about understanding my path. I am in the process of learning how to relax, listen to my own inner voice, and realize that growing does not happen overnight. Some days are better than others, but even instances when I feel stuck teach something important.
I’ve come to realize that there is nothing wrong in being on the way of my own empowerment. I get stronger after learning from mistakes, I learn how to exercise patience, and finally, I gain confidence through achieving small victories.
I learn to appreciate every experience in a new way, become more curious rather than focused on finding solutions to questions that trouble me, and also try to avoid quick conclusions.
Personal growth has a unique feature of flexibility that allows me to embrace the changes that happen. I am okay with the idea that I still have much to learn.
💬 What lesson are you still learning right now? I’d love to hear your journey too.
This blog is sprinting its way to the finish line with Piyush’s Plotters as part of The Blogchatter Half Marathon!
Here’s my quick take on Shaadi, Secrets, and Second Chances by Rheaa Noor. If I had to pinpoint one word to describe this book, it would be ‘LOVE’. This book does not revolve around marriage rather it revolves around love that does not die over the passage of time. The wedding of Tara and Arjun, held at the Chandrakothi Mahal seems nothing short of ‘magical’.
But the palace has a story of its own the story of the relationship that has lasted for years and years between Armaan and Dev. The book has many layered events and vibrant moments in it. The author manages to be both straightforward and impressive with this story that shows how certain pledges wait for years or even generations before being fulfilled. I love how the mandap has changed into something bigger it has become a link between the two relationships and two times. The story is very well written and leaves a person thinking long after reading, without being about ghosts.
The book definitely deserves attention if you like stories with a twist.
This blog is sprinting its way to the finish line with Piyush’s Plotters as part of The Blogchatter Half Marathon!
Hospitals are indeed more than just the places where you hear the sound of stethoscopes and see the sight of prescriptions. They have their own stories to share along with elements of drama and spiciness.
Reading The Great Indian Medico Masala by Dr. Kumar Nirbhay was like entering that world through my own eyes. To me, it was not merely a book, it was a fantastic compilation of humor, nostalgia, along with some raw reality. I couldn’t control my laughter while going through ‘Einsteinian Alcoholic’, I was stunned at ‘Wednesday Virus’ and my mind kept recalling ‘Dr. Ravan’ non-stop. The stories are short, full of energy, and relatable enough that I thought I was out there in the hospital corridors. One of the greatest things about the book is how it manages to combine both the elements of comedy with compassion. It reminded me of one important thing medicine is more than a simple science, it is a human drama.
The Great Indian Medico Masala is the perfect medicine for you if you want both entertainment and some food for reflection.
Rating: 5/5
This blog is sprinting its way to the finish line with Piyush’s Plotters as part of The Blogchatter Half Marathon!
When I started reading Bytes and Breaths. I was not prepared for how genuine the narrative seemed to be. It is not just about artificial intelligence or entrepreneurship it is about the invisible burden that leaders bear, fatigue, and suppressed feelings within the team. The path taken by Zara reminds us that winning is not about decision-making speed or strategy it is about taking a moment to reflect on the situation and letting the breath breathe through you. Aria, the AI coach/tactician, does not seem to be a robot but a flashlight, reflecting all the leaders’ actions and thoughts. What I appreciate the most about this book is how expertly it combines technology with humanity. There is no glorifying or rejecting AI here it is clarified how it can be useful. If you are to create something, lead people, or deal with stress, this book sounds like a soft call for action do not forget about the human factor.
This blog is sprinting its way to the finish line with Piyush’s Plotters as part of The Blogchatter Half Marathon!
There is something inherently unsettling about a quiet mountain settlement. The mist conceals more than the landscape, isolated cottages seem to hold their own secrets, and familiar faces can become strangers when darkness falls. Sanjay Tamta’s If Longing Could Kill embraces this atmosphere beautifully, creating a historical mystery where the stillness of the hills becomes the perfect backdrop for murder.
Set in Mansuri in 1952, only five years after India gained Independence, the novel takes readers to Ludor Hilltop, a secluded community surrounded by dense forests, steep mountain paths and an old cemetery. Life here appears peaceful, almost uneventful. The residents know one another, routines rarely change, and the outside world seems distant. Yet beneath this tranquillity lie old wounds, personal ambitions and secrets waiting to surface.
The mystery begins with a disappearance.
Sant Ram, the local milkman, notices something unusual about Gopal Dass, the young caretaker of Evelynn Cottage and the adjoining cemetery. For two mornings, Gopal’s outhouse remains bolted from the outside, yet the light inside is still switched on. His absence does not feel ordinary, prompting Sant Ram to confide in his friend Nathu Lal, the local shopkeeper.
Their concern eventually brings Andrew Wilson, the owner of Evelynn Cottage, back to Mansuri and draws Inspector Dharamveer Tyagi into the investigation. What initially appears to be a missing-person case soon takes a much darker turn.
From here, Tamta builds a mystery populated by characters whose histories and motivations gradually become important to the investigation. Wilson, a Railway Police Inspector, has a complicated relationship with the young caretaker. Gopal, who arrived at the Hilltop after fleeing a troubled past, has found something resembling family and security at Evelynn Cottage.
But not everyone is happy with the place Gopal has earned in Wilson’s life.
Jung Bahadur, the longtime caretaker, resents the trust Wilson places in Gopal. Elsewhere, wealthy realtor Amardeep Chaddha and his companion Devika have their own interest in the property. Ishwar Chand, a local businessman dealing in antiques and semi-precious stones, introduces another intriguing thread involving Wilson’s family history and a possible hidden treasure.
And then there are the ghosts of the past.
Gopal’s arrival in Mansuri is connected to a painful episode in his village involving love, social prejudice, misunderstanding and revenge. His past eventually catches up with him, adding another layer to a case already crowded with possible motives.
What makes If Longing Could Kill particularly engaging is the way it treats motive. Almost everyone seems to want something. Some characters long for love or belonging. Others seek revenge, wealth, security or possession. These desires do not necessarily make them guilty, but they create an atmosphere in which suspicion can fall almost anywhere.
At the centre of the investigation is Inspector Tyagi, a methodical and perceptive officer who approaches the case without being intimidated by status or reputation. Rather than relying on convenient assumptions, he examines inconsistencies, testimonies and seemingly insignificant details. A key, a bottle, a grave, a movement in the darkness—ordinary objects and events gradually acquire a new significance.
Sanjay Tamta also gives the novel a strong sense of place. The mist-covered mountains, isolated cottages, cemetery and forests are more than scenery. They contribute to the feeling of isolation that runs through the story. The historical setting adds another dimension, placing the characters in a period when society itself was undergoing profound change.
At its heart, If Longing Could Kill is a mystery about desire and its darker possibilities. It asks how far people can be pushed by the things they want—and what happens when longing becomes obsession.
With its atmospheric setting, multiple suspects, buried histories and steadily unfolding investigation, the novel offers readers a classic murder mystery with an unmistakably Indian setting and a strong psychological undercurrent.
Available now in multiple formats on Amazon, Flipkart, and the Notionpress Store.
Writing can be experienced as Zen; this does not mean achieving a level of success (perfection); instead, it embodies the experience of being in a serene and calm state of mind – sitting with the pen, authoring the thought, and taking a moment to pause before returning back to writing. Allowing yourself to lose control and trust that as you create, the meaning will become known.
In its simplest form, writing is a form of meditation. Much like meditation begins not with the act of speaking but with your breath (the slow beat of your being), writing begins with your breath (the slow beat of your being).
Once you have opened your book and finished your cup of tea, the silence will continue until you begin to write – each letter one way to listen to yourself. That evening I learned that the act of writing is not filling the space of the page with letters and words; but rather finding peace in the empty spaces between letters and words.
At times the most accurate word on the page is the one that follows a long, slow – complete exhalation.
The act of writing teaches patience; not only in waiting for inspiration; but also, in learning to forgive oneself.
Every word has already existed as a part of you – just waiting for a time to exist outside of you.
And with the last letter in the alphabet, here’s a small note of thanks to Blogchatter – for helping me rediscover the beauty in words.
This challenge has taught me so much more than how letters connect to each other. It has helped me to reconnect with rhythm and memories, with meanings long forgotten and lessons yet to be learned.
Thank you for the support, the community and the lesson of remembering that writing, though it often appears solitary, is a communal experience.
For all the writers who kept their end up, for all the readers who stayed around to read, and all the stories that found a way home – here’s to you.
Here’s to the next chapter – With gratitude and chai-warm joy.
Every year brings about its library, not only of books but also of moods. Some months will be poetic, some will be essays in patience. My year in reading was an almost silent autobiography written within margins.
It was a year filled with stories that held me during times I could not help myself, stories that reflected my silences and lessons that helped me learn how to begin all over again. I can recall reading in early morning light, chai slowly cooling beside me, coming to understand how reading is not escapism but a form of return.
Each book marked a point in time; the book I read when waiting for news, the one where I cried in a coffee shop and felt inspired to hope.
A year in reading is never just a list of titles; it is always the person who read them.
Because sometimes the most truthful measurement of time is by the stories that have changed you.
Just as xenophobia is the fear of the stranger, xenophilia is the opposite – the love of the strange, the interest in the foreign. And all the literature ever stood behind it.
From the times of Homer, who glorified the hospitality to strangers, and up until Amitav Ghosh’s In an Antique Land, where Hindi films united the inhabitants of an Egyptian village, there have always been tales of the meeting between different peoples.
Literary authors, who believe in xenophilia, do not simply write about other cultures; they also listen to them, understand and embrace them. They are translators not only of words but also of entire worlds.
And when, in modern times, national borders become more difficult to cross and the languages are becoming more and more different, xenophilia becomes almost a revolutionary literary phenomenon.
As it makes one understand the fact that empathy is more powerful than geography.
For every story is always an overcoming – And a reader is always a traveler.
