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
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…
Seven-Year Itch
Seven years – that’s 2,555 days of love, arguments, laughter, silence, shared meals, cancelled trips, long hugs, and the eternal “what should we watch tonight?” question. They say the seven-year itch makes couples restless, but honestly, if that’s true, we’ve been scratching that itch since year one – sometimes gently, sometimes like two cats tangled…
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….
112 Is Not 911 – A Cry for Help, and a System That Fails You
Last Saturday morning, I thought I was going to lose my father. He’s been bedridden for a year now, slowly slipping into the fog of Alzheimer’s. That morning, he started gasping for air. My mother panicked. So did I. In that moment of desperation, I did what we’re told to do in emergencies – I…
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 Am a Hugger
Hugs are so underrated. Not the polite, half-hearted ones. I’m talking about those tight, real hugs- where your arms wrap around someone, and for a few seconds, both of you forget everything else. The noise fades. The chaos pauses. And all that remains is warmth. Yes, I am a hugger. Always have been. Even when…
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…
ANKUR MONDAL 