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The familiar sound

The phone rang. It was one of those unplanned moments when my friend decided to call another friend, just to surprise him. The call connected, and before I could think, I said, "hello." What followed was a burst of recognition on the other side. My name, said with a kind of innocent, childlike excitement that instantly makes you smile. I didn’t speak for a few seconds. I just listened.  That moment stayed with me longer than I expected. Maybe because of how something as ordinary as a voice could feel so deeply personal. It made me think about how much sound shapes the way we experience life. We rarely notice it, though. Sound is always around. The sound of a ceiling fan, a song playing faintly in another room, the chatter of people passing by. Yet there are certain sounds that seem to rise above everything. The ones that reach you no matter where you are.  Like how you suddenly notice the birds on a quiet afternoon, only because the rest of the world has gone still. How, duri...
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Are we missing the point?

We’re surrounded by gadgets and media almost a third of our day. If we exclude the 6–8 hours of (ideal) sleep, we’re constantly glued to our devices. The moment we wake up, we’re hit with a flood of notifications. I remember when WhatsApp was new, people used to flood group chats with images, memes, and forwarded texts. Waking up to hundreds of unread messages was a sign of how 'social' you were. The more notifications you had, the more popular you seemed. It was almost like a badge of belonging. Like every other trend, that phase passed. It was replaced by newer apps, new kinds of notifications, and newer ways of seeking validation. What hasn’t changed or perhaps has only worsened is our desire to constantly be seen, to seek validation, to own more, and to curate a picture-perfect life. Is it bad to want a good life? No, not at all. Everyone dreams of having nice things. But it becomes harmful when we’re trapped in a cycle of never feeling satisfied. When we’re more concerned...
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Scoreboard

  “Don’t you ever get tired of holding on to people?” It’s a question that comes up more often than expected. Sometimes directly, sometimes hidden between words like 'clingy,' or 'too much,'. There was a time I might’ve agreed. A time when silence stung, and unreciprocated efforts felt like rejection. Back then, I used to overthink a text that didn’t get a reply or wonder why I always had to be the one who reached out first. That’s changed. These days, I don’t hold on to people out of fear they’ll leave. I don’t reach out hoping they’ll stay. I send messages, check in, share little thoughts because I want to. Because it’s part of who I am. It doesn’t come with any expectation or a scoreboard. It takes ten seconds to send a thinking of you message. Maybe a minute to share a meme that reminded me of someone. A short call to say, 'I saw your favourite snack today and thought of you.' Small things. Nothing grand. Just everyday reminders that someone matters. ...
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