Somewhere between a resignation email and an exit note, the modern professional has started confusing convenience with escape. A resignation needs planning – notice periods, backup offers, savings, and carefully worded gratitude. An exit from life? Just a moment of unbearable silence. Last week, in Gurgaon, an advertising professional chose the latter. A 13th-floor drop,…
Tag: Mental Health Awareness
The Age of Brilliant Mediocrity
There was a time when advertising took time.Ideas brewed slowly. Scripts were argued over. Directors obsessed over a single frame. Producers fought impossible budgets. Someone stayed up all night just to get the right line, the right emotion, the right pause. Today, we have something far more efficient. We have AI. And with it, the…
EK MADHAV BAUG
Last evening, at Lok Kala Manch, I revisited a younger version of myself. The play was “EK MADHAV BAUG”, written by the late Chetan Datar and organised by the Delhi-based queer collective “QConnect”. On stage stood Mona Ambegaonkar – alone, luminous, carrying an entire universe in her pauses. Eleven years ago, I watched the same…
The Hanging Sword of Layoffs
Some years feel like storms. This one feels like standing under a sky full of swords – each one glinting, dangling, humming with possibility and threat. And yet we still show up to work, swipe our cards, sit at our desks, smile at Teams calls, and hope we’re not next – the hanging sword of…
Maybe You Just Need to Smile
I am living my life one day at a time. Some days are heavy, some days are lighter, but most days feel like I am just trying to survive. I wake up with the weight of thoughts I can’t always explain. I feel lost most of the time, searching for a path that seems invisible….
NUMB
There’s something creepy crawling inside me.No, it’s not a ghost. It’s worse.It’s slowly eating away at my emotions, empathy, and will to feel.I think it started small – a moment here, a moment there.A forgotten phone call. A hug that didn’t land. A message left on read. And now?I feel… NOTHING.Yes, I’m NUMB. No, I’m…
I’m toxic. Period!
The past year has been nothing short of a whirlwind. It’s been a year of deep reflection, painful realizations, and, surprisingly, growth. As I write this, I want to make one thing clear: this is my side of the story. Not the absolute truth, but my truth – a story of love, labels, and letting…
All of Us Strangers
The idea of six degrees of separation is enchanting. This thought suggests any two people in the world are connected through just six acquaintances. It suggests that the world may feel vast. Still, we’re only a few handshakes away from one another. Yet, within this comforting notion lies a quiet question: what about the people…
A Table for One
My heart is yellow,The thoughts are deep,A table for one,Is all I need. The world spins fast,It voices loud,But here I sit,Away from the crowd. No masks to wear,No roles to play,Just me, myself,At the end of the day. This quiet moment,So rare, so true,A space to breathe,The life renew. It’s not escape,It’s a loving…
Embracing Bad Luck: The Art of Pivoting
I once caught a line from a movie that really stuck with me: “It’s one of the benefits of bad luck. It teaches you to pivot.” There’s definitely some truth there. Life can throw us off track, and sometimes it feels like it does so over and over again. As a middle-aged Indian gay man,…
ANKUR MONDAL 