To a Softer, More Fulfilling 2026!

The new year comes with its own fair share of life. The burden of resolutions, the pressure of being better this year for sure, the excitement of seeing how this year would turn out. With all the advice pouring in from all sides, it does get overwhelming, particularly when most of it is contradictory.

 So, what am I here with?  “More advice? Sia, we don’t need that ughhhh!!!”, I know that’s what most of you would say. But trust me I’m not here with those.

 It’s just four wholesome and enriching things I stumbled upon, and felt worth sharing with you all. You may choose to adopt one of those or maybe all, up to you, but I do feel incorporating one of these would definitely give you a more fulfilling 2026.

# Make work your play!

We work all day. Even when we’re not into work physically, we’re somehow mentally engaged in the same. So why not make something that makes so much of our day so emotionally fulfilling that it becomes almost like play!

“A master in the art of living draws no sharp distinction between his work and his play; his labor and his leisure; his mind and his body; his education and his recreation. He hardly knows which is which. He simply pursues his vision of excellence through whatever he is doing, and leaves others to determine whether he is working or playing. To himself, he always appears to be doing both.” – Yvon Chouinard Let My People Go Surfing.

I came across this insightful, insightful passage and I feel that it just sums up how our lives are meant to be lived. Make work your play.

Get so engrossed that it feels so, so enjoyable and not a task. Amp up your space, add in some plants, bring out those childish sticky notes. If you’re in WFH, maybe drop in some fairy lights as well. Have work playlists. Make it a space where skill and innovation, mental pressure and jigsaw joy, deadlines and goals go hand in hand. Cognitively challenging yet emotionally rewarding.

# Get yourself a Hobby!

And by hobby, I mean a real hobby. Not just a pastime. (and guys, doomscrolling is not a hobby!) Involve your hands, your heart, and your brain.

 Find something you’re a complete noob at and just grow at it. There’s nothing more grounding than realizing there’s so much more to learn. Human mind thrives the most when learning something new. It doesn’t need to be a useful skill, or something you need to be perfect at.

It just needs to be something fashioned entirely using your hands and heart. Just a tiny refuge all for yourself. Reading, writing, gardening, crochet, pottery, photography, playing a new instrument. Stick to one and be dedicated to it.

 At the end of the year, you’ll be staring at a whole new side of yourself, you weren’t aware could even exist!

# The Arts will Save You when No One Can

Ever had that moment when you’re feeling lonely or just sad without any specific reason whatsoever. It’s in those moments that the arts come to your rescue the most. They just give you a space to step into if only for a moment.

Art also somehow helps keep that inner kid alive. Ever seen a pure Potterhead getting excited at a patronus mention, or maybe something of the sort for some other artform. You just need to experience it in order to truly understand it.

The feeling of belongingness to a world, character, book, art piece is surreal indeed! And please, please go to an art gallery at least once this year and just lose yourself in the art!

# Be More Grateful

There’s this one thing I noticed last year. “The same things that annoy you are the ones you need to be more grateful for.” So paradoxical, right! But true it is!

Have to get up early in the morning to go to work? Congrats, you have a real job! Have to call in dozens of loved ones to wish a Happy New Year? Congrats, you’ve got people who wait for your call! Have to cook three meals a day? Congrats, you’ve a body that actually lets you savor food!

But does that really mean we’ve an opportunity to be grateful every single time we get annoyed? (Law of Proportionality) As a person who gets annoyed pretty easily, this is a rather shocking, don’t-wanna-believe-in revelation. Easy to say, crazy difficult to implement. Let’s see if we can pull this one off!

That’s all I had for all of you, my friends. I really enjoy having you all as part of my journey, being with me on LifeLately sessions, so just thought of bringing up something new this time. Hope you enjoyed reading this one :) Have a crazily happy year y’all!

Festive Edition: LifeLately --4

I know the socials have been pretty full of Diwali drops lately, I’ve been having a whole lot of fun going through how the same day carries so many different meanings to different people. And yes, I also wanted to bring in my very own version of it. So, here I am :)

To be very frank, I was a little confused on whether to bring this on as a LifeLately edition or as a standalone, but this pretty much is how LifeLately has been. So, here we go!

Diwali, for me, has always been really special. I feel it has this unique quality, that it always manages to be special for each of us in one way or another. But this year, it was a lil extra special (I donno, I believed I had reached the superlative there, but yea, turns out you never really know). Maybe bcs I was here to witness all the tiny extra sparkle it had to offer.

The magic actually kicks off way before Diwali actually arrives. Nothing really changes, but it’s as if everything kinda changes. There’s a slight unrest in the air, a slight murmer, as the one that precedes the arrival of a great personality. Only this murmer isn’t one limited to mere people, it’s the gentlest hum created by the universe itself.

Just on the sidelines, random small stalls start popping up on the by lanes, hoardings and advertisements bring on the Diwali fervour, deep home cleaning starts off, even the air feels clearer, cooler, more soothing, yet palpitating with the exuberance only Diwali can bring. You can just feel it in the air.

I can’t quite explain it, the leaves start turing greener, flowers bloom harder, the sun shines brighter, all determined to be on the best of their splendour to meet the festive common to all, rich or poor, the one festive that lights up every single life.

In my home, Diwali prep kicks off by deep cleaning my entire home, making fresh homemade sweets and snacks and adoring our doorsteps with pretty bandanwars. New things are purchased as well. Lots of them.

It’s not like we can’t afford or don’t buy new stuff all year round. Nor do the items need be excessively costly or anything. They can be as simple as a new lunch box. It’s just that the small act of waiting, a little longer to actually bring them on Dhanteras, or during Diwali shopping spree gives a different kind of warm joy. One that can only be experienced when all family members sit down to unbox their new things, their own tiny gifts to themselves.

Diwali for sure is about celebrating grandeur. Of all the things there are about it, subtlety isn’t one of them for sure. It serves as a strong reminder that maybe being nonchalant isn’t the only way to do life. You can do it in the exact opposite manner as well. Be as gloriously sparking as those fairy lights! Light up entire rooms with your presence! Own the place!

Be vocal about your thoughts, your opinions, don’t be afraid to speak your mind out. You deserve to own your own space that is wholly yours and irreplacable. Just like that Gulab Jamun and Jalebi who own their space, and can’t be replaced by any banana bread for sure.

Be the whole new unapologetically brilliant version of yourself you wanna be. Don’t be scared to be the center of attention just how rangoli’s are meant to be.

Do not, absolutely do not, try to mellow down your fragrance my rose petals, the world deserves more of your fragrance and you deserve to own it too!

Getting Back: LifeLately --3

 A’ight! So, I was early to college today, [ughh, day scholar : ( ], but yea it was really quiet and I was listening to a song and I was reading a really cool random writeup by one of my favorite YouTubers who also happens to write so well omg and it was really funny, I mean the writeup, and the weather was breezy and that’s when it struck me,

“Lazy pants! You need to get some writing done”

So, here I am scribbling in my notebook, I love the sound pencil makes on paper btw.

Ummhmm, so LifeLately has been random we can say. So much going on. Exams, projects, assignments, good weather, pretty clouds, lots of spaghetti, rain, and yes, good music ‘cus that should never stop, ever!

LifeLately has also been a lot about getting back to a habit I had built. It got left behind, as habits mostly do. But yes, I am getting back to it. Watching the universe go by. Observing every teensy bit detail. There’s something calm to be gained from watching random strangers go about their day, watching a scarf fly by, a leaf dance about in the breeze, an ant climb a tree. It makes us realize the smallness of oneself.

Watching sunshine light up a spider web perched high among the tree leaves, the satisfaction of seeing the first bloom of the season, the joy of experiencing the wind in your hair, so much to be gained from watching the universe be. All our problems and issues seem futile at that moment. It just brings you out of your head. Maybe the issues are not as huge as we think of them to be. As Ruskin Bond said, “When all the wars are done, a butterfly will still be beautiful.”

By just being a silent observer instead of a contributor. Being fully present without being a part. An observer rather than a contributor. Truly, experiencing the experience.

Been vibing to Katy Perry’s Roar and Alan Walker’s Alone(Pt. II), lately. Two starkly different but wonderfully complimenting songs.

“I got the eye of the tiger, the fire

Dancing through the fire

‘Cause I am a champion, and you’re gonna hear me roar”        --(Roar)

but,

 “We all need a soul to rely on

A shoulder to cry on

A friend through the highs and the lows

I’m not gonna make it alone”                                              --(Alone)

Beautiful how they stand as a stark reminder of how inner strength comes first. No one can push you around if you don’t allow them to. We are fully capable of conquering all our aims, winning in this life and fighting the hardest battles ourselves. Yet, with the support of the ones who truly love us, the wins would become so much more magical and showing up on the hard days won’t be that tough, really.

So my warriors, be the lion and roar loud, but also be sure to hold on to the ones who hold you up through the highs and lows, because even a lion needs a home to go back to.

A Readaholics Panorama turns four!

The journey of a thousand miles (or maybe a thousand writeups, hopefully even more), begins with a single step. Sounds clichéd, right? But it is as true as all clichéd things tend to be.

A Readaholics Panorama turns four today. And yes, it is an exuberant feeling of watching your child turn four. Watching it grow with you. Or watching your growth reflected in it. It goes both ways to be honest.

This journey began, as most tumultuous ones do, with a broken heart and an aspiring will. I was sixteen, a writer at heart, but with no specific outflow. So, I started, because that’s the only solution I knew of then. When I was sixteen. For when you’re a teen, you’re ready to conquer the world. Reading having been my first love, I started off with writing about the books I had loved. For that’s what I wanted to use my craft for. To ensure the world knows of the magic books hold.

Fast forward two years of writing book reviews. I started feeling restless again. Yes, the content was wholly mine. But they weren’t enough of the expression of myself I wanted them to be. There was that odd paragraph in each blog that was completely mine. Just my thoughts. Not about the book. Random thoughts.

But deep down, my heart craved for more. Pieces that were wholly mine. Raw, uninspired work. A line of work I could lay complete claim on.

So, at eighteen, I started off on a journey of my own. Where I could lay complete claim on my thoughts, my words, MY expression. With the confidence only young adulthood can offer.

And now two years later, at twenty, I’ve launched my first series. My very own Passion Project- LifeLately. For two years into adulthood as taught me a lot about appreciating. The tiny, simple, unnoticed. Just documenting life. And maybe simply because I want to write more, share more, express more.

These four years have been one amazing experience. Some days I feel like giving it all up because four whole years haven’t brought in that huge of a reader-base as I had hoped. But passion isn’t something that easy to give up on. And so we continue!

So yes, to many, many more random raw writeups, to days of despair, to days of strength that comes only from despair, to days of hope, most of all, to days of love, to days of sunshine, to days of expression!

To many, many more such wonderful days, my dear readers! Thank you so much for being with me on this rollercoaster of a journey. For helping me survive. Your love really fills my heart.

Lots of love,

Sia.

 

Daytime Musings: LifeLately --2

Hullo!

Hope the last three weeks have been kind to you. For me they were but an assorted mix. Life Lately has been offbeat. Not in a negative sense though. An almost positive weird-ish.

Took a much needed digital break after a long time. Just some time off for myself. And in this time, I started noticing back all those tiny pleasures that used to make so much of my life, but had somehow faded in all the noise I had surrounded myself with. It’s always good to get back.

After being successfully wooed by ‘Hustle culture’, here I am trying hard to get my life back on track. Not just my life actually. Trying to get me, myself back on track. On track to the journey that had to be enjoyed. Off track from the race I had unknowingly signed up for (egged on by LinkedIn, the constant fear of lagging behind, and the all encompassing allure of hustle culture).

Kindly do not take me wrong. It’s not like I am against hard work. I’m all for it. It’s maybe just that running blindly without pausing to breathe can get rather overwhelming at times.

So, yes, that’s how Life Lately has been. Mostly figuring out what I want, and what can be skipped. Getting back to late night walks, loud self talks sitting cross legged on my room floor, mid-day dance breaks, and entertaining myself with my own drama. Yes, I know, it’s weird how peace for some can be the most unhinged things ever.

And, noticing. Noticing all that makes life, oh so pleasant, right now. Cleaning up because it’s just so deeply settling. There’s this quiet joy and power to be found in rearranging your stuff. Almost a small assurance of still having control. Over what you keep and what you throw. Of finding those small gifts from your loved ones. Of the tiny reassurance they bring, of the presence they hold.

So, as I wrap up the second post of Life Lately, I’d just like to ask you for a small thing. Hold on. Hold on to yourself. Your silly self, your kid self, your mature self, your dreamy self, your practical self. In all the noise surrounding us, it’s natural to somehow lose touch with yourself. But it’s not okay. In this world full of chaos, be the peaceful home you can return to.

Notes From a Workdesk: LifeLately --1

There’s this thing about being brought up in an Indian home, all the traditions and customs (which are, by the way, really meaningful) somehow get deeply ingrained in you.

So, when starting off with a new venture, we Indians always remember our God, do a lil puja or something. Now that I am beginning with my passion project, the biggest dream project I have envisioned, I’d like to do something similar. No, I am not beginning with a puja ceremony or anything. I’d just like to begin by talking about my workspace, which I consider my place of worship.

With my sem break going on right now, (for I’m an engineering student), this, incidentally, is also how Life Lately has been.

Tucked away in a corner of my room, is my work desk, a space so wholly mine, it almost mirrors me. A simple wooden plank, I like to keep it hoarded with all my “essentials”- mostly my study notebooks, writing pad(for I always write on a whim), penstand, laptop, journal, and all the books I am reading right now.

But this isn’t all that makes it truly mine, what makes it so wholly mine is the flower picked on a random walk that adorns it, the tiny gifts from my friends filling up my penstand, the tiny bundle of perfectly transparent sticky notes, a duster, reflective of my rather OCDian instincts, a scrunchie and my never ending supply of lost bookmarks, if you’re a reader you know.

Sometimes I like between-work-snacking on my desk as well, though I always make sure to clean it up immediately.

Life Lately has been so majorly spent on this table. Whether its studying, working, listening to music or reading. I mostly do these curled up on my chair. It’s beautiful how such places, tiny corners of our homes mean so much to us,

Having a space of your own is extremely essential, I believe. I came up with this belief when I first read Sir Bond’s – A room on the roof. The book beautifully articulates how absolutely essential it is to have a room of your own, in other words, a space of your own. Hoping to gain further insight on the matter I purchased Virginia Woolf’s – A Room of One’s Own, but being rather bad at reading classics, I’m yet to complete it. My insight however remains incomplete. But I’ve been rather successful in designing it on my own, I guess.

So yea, coming back, having a space of your own is extremely essential, I believe. If not an entire bungalow, maybe a little corner like mine. For these are the spaces that help us define ourselves, set our comfort standards, make us ready to envision something that is so uniquely ours. The idea for Life Lately also struck me while listening to music, one afternoon in my workspace. That is the idea. To make such a space, your own space, so you that it helps you think and envision and build.

As I wrap up with the first post of Life Lately, I hope you also, dear reader, build a place that is truly yours, maybe a lil corner in your balcony, maybe a night tent in your room, anything, just a place that is truly yours, that defines you, that gives you that space, to breathe, to think, to be truly you.

 

En memoria de "The Dubba"

Tiffin lunch dubba, a memory that brings back comfort. Like a salient companion, it’s the best refuge you can return to when taking a break in the middle of a long day. For home cooked food is never about the taste, its about the comfort, the flavour of home.

This is no sad recollection people, I'm a day scholar blissfully aloof of the (sometimes stomach, mostly mood) upsetting food of the college mess.

It takes me back to my childhood, where one of my earliest memories are of my mum creatively coming up with new healthy sweet dishes to go along with my food. For I was a fussy eater albeit with a sweet tooth (or sweet teeth, as my mum prefers for, I'm a huge lover of anything sweet). In her trials to at least make me eat something, yet keeping it artificial sugar free, she whipped up apple jams, banana- mango rolls and jaggery sweetened milkshakes, which were all but happily devoured by me. So, yes, homemade food is all about the love, the care, the tiny tweaks made to ensure that it's just perfect for the loved one you're preparing it for.

When someone cooks, their entire personality somehow gets infused into what they make. The same dish, prepared with the same recipe, yet has a different flavour when made by different people. It’s their own tiny touch, maybe an extra tadka, or a squeeze of lemon, that truly makes the dish theirs. And it is that little pinch that we remember years after, as their own little signature.

I feel the most beautiful love language is cooking for someone. The way you cook for someone shows how much you care for them, how much you are aware of their little picky tastes, how much extra effort you're willing to put in just to ensure they love it. The way someone remembers how you like your coffee with half a spoon sugar and not even a grain more, how you'll always pick a cookie over a muffin, how you'll always get super hangry when you are tired and a chocolate will be more than welcome, is the most, most beautiful way of showing they truly care.

And so, I hope, dear reader, the next time you open a pickle jar made by your mum, you acknowledge not just the flavour kick it brings to your food, but also the secluded comfort it gives, the feeling of being closer home.