can you vish?

The child raced to finish homework, dreaming of chocolate’s sweet reward. The parent denied the bar - the kid had refused veggies for lunch. The parent lingered longer at work, chasing the raise as reward. The boss denied the hike, they'd to grease the hands of those in power. People in power built a megashrine, seeking votes as reward. The masses denied the votes, they'd felt the crunch of the missing notes The masses ignored the hate around them, eyeing a spot in heaven as reward. God denied the masses their spots, they’d dined from the forbidden pots.

Last day, I had the misfortune of interacting with the husband of one of my cousins at a family event. Since we’ve already established my feelings toward him, let me clarify that he is not an evil person. It’s just that our ideologies and outlooks toward life could poetically be described as Yin-Yang—completely opposite, with no common ground. That’s fine; everyone is entitled to their vision, as long as they don’t try to claim their vision as the only correct one and attempt to shove it on others who haven’t asked for advice. After exchanging pleasantries, we got down to the “real talk.” He started by asking me why I am still sticking around here (India) and not moving abroad. To set the context, he has been working in the Middle East ever since I first met him at my cousin’s wedding, around fourteen years ago. His wife and kids, who used to live with him, recently moved to Canada, possibly to settle there once he retires. Of course, moving abroad seems to be the trend (or even the no...

I am a planner! I like planning things in my life and spend numerous hours researching, analyzing, and comparing different options in front of me to choose the right one. Of late, I’ve realized that even if you choose an option that feels like the best, life’s infinite twists and turns often end up presenting you with something completely different. Nithya and I, like many other like-minded and equally privileged people, make it a point to explore a new corner of the world at least once a year—a piece of earth far from home, where the language, ethnicity, beliefs, culture, or food differ from what we know. This year, when we (and by we, I mean me) started planning, our top destinations were Japan, Georgia, and Vietnam. I put in the hours and created itineraries for each of these places. Drafting itineraries is the fun, exciting part of travel planning. The boring, exhausting part is the visa process and document collection. Both Japan and Georgia required numerous documents, some of wh...