Look around you, look at social media; everyone is happy, colourful, rich, surrounded by friends and relatives and you envy them, believe that their life is perfect.  The people in those posts have no problems in life.  They have good health, money, friends, a very active social life, “besties” and you feel like a loser, like you are lagging behind in this race. Have a heart-to-heart chat with most of them and you will see that everyone is battling their

It’s all in the mind. This might sound cliché, but it’s true for me in every situation. From frequently being termed as a mad -hatter to a childlike personality. People, specifically few of my women relatives never missed a chance to pin-point me just because my thoughts and goals are way beyond their boundaries and imaginations. Though I am not the one who gets offended easily yet being human it sometimes affects me a lot. After I pondered over it

With plenty of ‘wonder women’ in my life, whom I admire, it’s a challenge for me to pick one and write about that person. I can write a book on all of them, that I look up to, from whom I have learned a lot. Young and old, family, friends and colleagues. I choose one special person who’s the epitome of strength to me. That’s my mother, named Neela from Nagapattinam in Tamil Nadu, India, married at the age of

Being from two different states of India, both my husband and I have tried really hard to walk the middle path so we do have an experience of trying to raise a ‘bi’cultural kid and the pressure that it entails. Last year we made our job a tad tougher by moving out of India. So now we not only have ours to worry about but also the culture of the country we are living in. Bringing up children with the

Being a writer: My name is Paromita Bardoloi. Born and brought up in a very sleepy town in Assam, I was 18 when I went to Miranda House, to study literature as an undergraduate student. Though I come from a very small town, yet I realized that we have more gender equality than the capital of India. As a college going girl, I was petrified to see men flashing their genitals on us in the broad daylight. That was when

Durga Pujo is here again!  All Bengalis await the arrival of their “daughter” Maa Durga along with her children Laxmi, Saraswati, Kartik and Ganesh with the blessings of Lord Shiva.  It is like welcoming her daughter to her “Maika”. Goddess Durga is the Goddess of Shakti.  She killed Mahishasura the Rakshasa and the Divine won over the Evil and hence the celebrations.  The celebrations of Durga Puja are for 5 days starting, the last day being Vijayadashami. But the preparation

Life is a beautiful present that we all must enjoy in the present time. For we can’t alter the past events and thinking about it will destroy our present and will certainly pave our way to a gloomy future. From time immemorial numerous writers, preachers, religious heads et al are saying the same thing. But we all are so busy and so used to living with our burdens from the past, worries for the future that we end up wasting

I often used to wonder why we are born as kids and not as ready-made adults. I mean if that’s the ultimate goal God had outlined for us then might as well. He could have saved himself and us, a lot of effort. Of course, over the years I have realised that God did have a bigger picture in mind for all of us when he came up with plan of making children. Here’s what I have learnt; Every child

Let’s admit it, we live in an era of internet and social networking where anything and everything can go “viral”.  When one video is uploaded in a group, I see the same video being shared in all the different Facebook groups, WhatsApp groups, Facebook Messenger and so on.  Many a times, these videos are shared so many times that they become the hottest topic of discussion and gossip.  People start judging, passing remarks, commenting on the video and giving their

Traveling is not reaching our destination, for me it’s a learning experience. I am not talking about the geographical aspects of the various areas, their cuisine and culture. But, the number of people that we meet on our way especially if we are travelling by rail or road. On one such journey a male person asked my father if he can take one of our berths, my father agreed as me and my younger brother were 8 and 6 years