This past week has flown by. Travel, work, Diwali, meeting aunts and uncles, helping parents fix things at home (fixed a Chinese lighting set using good old soldering techniques learned in Junior College, with Fathership watching over as lead technician and Brothership helping out with getting the soldering paste and cord from local electrician 😎), Diwali cooking,-decorations-rangoli-shopping, talking to younger cousins about all things exciting, career counseling, cheat-week when it came to eating and the shebang. Whew!

I have been meaning to write this post for some time now. But kinda glad that it got delayed as I have more things to add.

#1: A few months ago dearest Paglet made it as a top 8 finalists to one of its kind TV show called Queens of Comedy. Seeing her hustle and struggle over the past few years when she changed career paths, and tried to do her bit to make that dent in the universe has been so inspiring. Being part of her life and her journey makes me immensely grateful. I know things will only get more interesting from here. I am excited.

#2: Reading Paul Kalanithi’s book last month shifted a lot of things within me. There is a tangible unease. Reading his story of creating meaning while knowing his mortal end makes me want to re-think life and a lot of other things I associate myself with. The more I think the more I understand few things better. The more I understand the more I seek clarity. I am grateful I stumbled across this book.

#3: There is a pani puri stall near my parents’ house here in Nagpur. Every year when I visit them, I go and eat pani puri at the stall. The stall uncle is in his early fifties (mostly) and is very neat and clean. He is very methodical and follows his own process. Last year when we visited he used to ride a bicycle, this year he had a small 2 wheeled vehicle. I was so thrilled for him. Seeing this Uncle make it big from his humble pani puri stall makes me value people who work hard at life in general even more.

#4: I met a 12-year-old cousin after years the other day. And she was so curious. And asked me so many questions. We talked maths (my favorite), classical music (I learned a bit in school and she herself is a singer under training), studies, her favorite subjects and the distinction between really liking something and be good at something (like she is good at science, but really likes civics), questions around what she wants to become (not surprisingly she wants to be something different every other month, which I think is a sign of good childhood/upbringing), her questions around what I wanted to be (I told her like her a lot of things and nobody at the same time). But most of all she was most curious about travel. She wanted to know if It scares me to travel alone. It made me think. And my response was not really. I have been anxious as it demands one to get out of comfort zone, but I have never ever been scared to do it on my own. And that seemed to shock her a bit. She said I only cycle to my music class by myself, nothing beyond that. I told her the one good thing about growing up is you do eventually grow the confidence to understand that you can find a way out if you are left to your own devices. Of course, you need to try out-of-comfort-zone things for that. And once you really think you ‘like that feeling’ then the scarediness is taken over by a calm anxiety. It felt so good to talk to someone so young. I was pleasantly surprised by the range of her questions and curiosity. I guess I know what I should be doing more frequently 😉

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