RELATIONSHIPS: COLUMNS AND STORIES

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Relationships

My life is a web of relationships. The great Indian joint family.

Messy, loving, crazy, contradictory, complex, never easy

But it defines who I am and what I value.

Connections: between people, place and time.

First cousins

Second cousins

Lady communing with the divine at Someshwara temple in Ulsoor, Bangalore

Do relationships make you or do you make them?

With love comes the ability to forgive. Only if you are able to forgive can you overlook slights, flaws, mistakes and miscommunication

While the Dalai Lama talks about loving-kindness meditation as a way to bridge divides, it is essentially about assuming goodwill.

Relationships are defined by connection

Connections can happen perchance but require care to flourish. Ultimately, it is these connections that define the human experience.

This web of connections floats to the surface in cultures such as India, where people are forced into proximity, thanks to density. What you do with (and to) the people around you defines character.

How you behave in times of stress depends on how you value what is at hand.

Relationships and connections are supreme in the path to happiness.

Relationship columns

Let’s talk about South Asian mental health
Gallery
Let’s talk about South Asian mental health
HT Brunch, HT Media, Relationships

Let’s talk about South Asian mental health

Just because mental health issues are not visible doesn’t mean they don’t exert a pull on your psyche. For a culture that is supposedly warm and family-oriented, many families here in India are adept at dismissing individual feelings and emotions, all in the name of being practical and rational.

Is wealth a good measure of a man? Or Woman?
Gallery
Is wealth a good measure of a man? Or Woman?
Bangalore Talkies, HT Media, Relationships, Wealth

Is wealth a good measure of a man? Or Woman?

Every professional I meet at Bengaluru’s great companies, be it Titan, Infosys, Wipro, Biocon or Flipkart, have their “origin tales” of how they struggled and succeeded. Equally, all of us, now lead lives, where we do everything we can so that our kids don’t struggle. This piece is about money and what it means. Many middle-aged Indians who are successful professionals today have our “unreserved compartment” stories. You know what I mean? Or maybe you don’t. It is the moment when you travel by Indian trains. There you are, after an ungainly undignified scramble, sitting on the upper-berth of the unreserved compartment, surrounded by sweaty bodies. In a scene worthy of a Kannada movie, you swear that you will never put yourself through this again.