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This was the first-ever meal I had alone: a snacky platter of momos, something fancy whose name I don’t remember, and french fries.
I had just moved out of home (quite literally), landed in a different city, and the first place I ... Views: 320
This article was originally published at rochizalani.com
I was about to dismiss writing on self-care because it is a competitive keyword. Because that’s what it has become now: a keyword on Google.
Have you ever come across brands forcing you to take care of yourself without selling ... Views: 418
This article was originally published at rochizalani.com
If you are an artist, you likely have a love-hate relationship with social media. Heck, if you are a person, you can’t do with or without social media.
I often think that the quote “You are the sum of 5 people you spend the most ... Views: 400
This article was originally published at rochizalani.com
The world is a loud place. There are hardly any times when you and I are not listening to man-made sounds. I don’t know how you rebel, but I unconsciously get irritable and cranky in too much noise.
As a hideaway, I go for a ... Views: 475
This article was originally published at rochizalani.com
If you are looking for a book that makes you wail, A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini is it.
I had heard many things about Hosseini’s first novel, The Kite Runner, but I wanted to begin with his second one. And I didn’t ... Views: 1306
This article was originally published at rochizalani.com
The Lowland by Jhumpa Lahiri is an ambitious book. It is a story of brotherly bonds intermingling with a vicious political environment. The two brothers – Subhash and Udayan are just 15 months apart. Subhash is the elder one but he ... Views: 879
This article was originally published at rochizalani.com
You don’t need me to tell you that The Fault In Our Stars is a famous tear-jerker, like all of John Green’s books.
This book is the love story of Hazel Grace and Augustus Waters. 16-year-old Grace is diagnosed with cancer and ... Views: 556
This article was originally published at rochizalani.com
I have 104 Highlights/Notes marked on Cheryl Strayed’s Tiny Beautiful Things – my highest ever in the six years of Kindle reading.
This book is a series of advice columns addressed to “Sugar” that was run at The Rumpus. I know the ... Views: 606
This article was originally published at rochizalani.com
The Bluest Eye is Toni Morrison’s first novel. It is set in 1940s America. The novel is largely based on a personal experience when one of Morrison’s childhood friends confessed her desire to have blue eyes. The author realized that how ... Views: 879
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The novel is set in a beautiful, British, fiction town, Highbury. Austen’s Emma is beautiful, rich, smart but also meddlesome, deluded, and spoiled. She is not a likable character and you won’t really root for her when you read ... Views: 537
This article was originally published at rochizalani.com
The story in Looking for Alaska is set in a time when everyone is building their self-image, identity, dreams, and love lives – high school. John Green introduces us to Miles Halter, who is the unreliable narrator of this story (But, as ... Views: 531
This article was originally published at rochizalani.com
I read Tuesdays with Morrie as a 14-year-old. I reread it when I was 16. Then once again, now, when I am 21. This is a book that has stayed with me – I have underlined paragraphs that have settled in my heart, I have done the crime of ... Views: 522
This article was originally published at rochizalani.com
‘My Year of Rest and Relaxation’ by Ottessa Moshfegh is easily one of the oddest books I have read. The story premise sounds ridiculous: Our unnamed character decides to hibernate for a year to sleep away from her depression and wake up ... Views: 534
This article was originally published at rochizalani.com
I wrote my first poem when I was 10 at the back of a 2-year old unused dated diary my father got as a gift from work. I remember using red pens and decorative headings to scribble “beautifully”, not a care in the world if what I am ... Views: 651
This article was originally published at rochizalani.com
I don’t know if it’s the season – but I see Bougainville everywhere. I stare and stare, but their magic doesn’t fade away. I linger to move away to “work,” but my mind is with the bougainvilleas, always.
I honestly don’t know if it ... Views: 565
This article was originally published at rochizalani.com
The smallest of tangible conventional achievements are celebrated – getting good grades, cracking college, jumping on a new job, pacing to a promotion, etc.
These milestones of a “normal” life are placed under harsh scrutiny, ... Views: 498
This article was originally published at rochizalani.com
Attention, I believe, is the most pricy commodity economically and psychologically. There is always some website that wants your attention (economic) and there is always something you should rather give your attention to (psychology). ... Views: 467
This article was originally published at rochizalani.com
Mmm, it is honeysugar, the beginnings. Every gesture so sweet, every crossed boundary charming, and every habit adorable. All of us possess a little bit of this sparkly honeymoon period nostalgia at the back of our palms.
It most ... Views: 647
This article was originally published at rochizalani.com
Solitude has become another commodity to sell (being lonely is still hushed). It became a fad when self-help gurus and pseudo-spiritual teachers started preaching about the benefits of time spent alone: Take this silent retreat, this ... Views: 567
This article was originally published at rochizalani.com
Up until last month, I was hustling one full-time job and three part-time jobs. Every minute of every day was booked on my calendar for a hundred “urgent” tasks.
“Chill” wasn’t a word in my vocabulary. I would rest but, um, not ... Views: 558
This article was originally published at rochizalani.com
I was uncertain whether or not to write this article. There were many, many (oh God, SO MANY) ‘What ifs?’ in my head before beginning that I wrote the first sentence 20 times. I wanted it to be juicy enough to hold your attention, yet ... Views: 521
This article was originally published at rochizalani.com
I had a lot of those ‘life’s big questions’ growing up: Why do grown-ups have these things that they call ‘jobs’ and why do they have to do it every day? Why do we have to ‘work’ and ‘build a career’ anyway? What purpose does it solve, ... Views: 491