Lifestyle

Exploring Connection and Compassion in Aditi Pant’s Walking Each Other Home Review by Sameer Gudhate

Some books arrive with noise.Big themes. Big promises. Big emotional declarations.And then there are books that walk in quietly, sit beside you, and begin speaking in a softer voice.Walking Each Other Home by Aditi Pant belongs to that second kind.While reading it, I often felt less like a reader and more like someone standing at a distance, watching a life unfold slowly across time. Not with dram...

Unpacking Humor and Life Lessons in Spilled Coffee and Some Laughs by Bindu Unnikrishnan

There’s something different about returning to a writer.The first time you read someone, you observe them.The second time, you listen more closely.Having reviewed earlier work by Bindu Unnikrishnan, I didn’t walk into Spilled Coffee and Some Laughs as a stranger. I walked in with memory. With familiarity. With a quiet expectation of honesty.And this book met me there.Some books arrive like loud an...

The roads less taken

I recently signed up for a \Thindi Hopping\ event, an organized walk to explore authentic breakfast spots in and around Malleswaram. I joined in for few reasons1.  A break from routine: I was stuck in the daily grind, even on weekends, rarely doing anything new or interesting. This felt like the perfect excuse to get out and do something different.2.  Exploring a new side of Malleswaram: I only kn...

Sameer Gudhate Presents the Book Review of It’s Easy to Be Healthy by Malaika Arora

I picked up It’s Easy to Be Healthy by Malaika Arora expecting another glossy celebrity fitness book — the kind with curated routines, aspirational photos, and promises of overnight transformation.But from the very first page, I realized this was different. It felt like sitting across from a friend at a quiet café in Mumbai, the monsoon pouring outside, the streets alive with honking taxis and str...

Sameer Gudhate Presents the Book Review of Aiyyo, What Will the Neighbours Say? by Aruna Nambiar

There’s a particular sound that echoes through Indian homes — a sharp intake of breath followed by a whispered, scandalised question: Aiyyo… what will the neighbours say? It’s not just a sentence. It’s a mood. A warning. Sometimes even a full-blown philosophy of life. I smiled the moment I opened Aruna Nambiar’s Aiyyo, What Will the Neighbours Say? because I knew, instinctively, that this book und...

Chapter 14: The Morning After

Morning arrived the way it always did at Chapter and Brew.soft light slipping through the windows, the hum of espresso machine, the scent of baked comfort warming the air.Kaia unlocked the door, just like every other day.But today, something was off.She moved through the cafe with practiced ease - switching on lights, setting chairs right, tying her apron - but the rhythm felt slower, heavier. Her...

Sameer Gudhate Presents the Book Review of The Wisdom of Balance by Swapnil Kamat

I read The Wisdom of Balance slowly, the way you sip something warm when you don’t want the cup to end too soon. Not because it demanded slowness, but because it invited it. This isn’t a book that shouts for your attention. It sits quietly across the table, waits for you to finish your thought, and then says something that lands a little deeper than you expected.Swapnil Kamat’s premise is disarmin...

Hangout

My Coin Has Heads on Both Sides

I was feeling irritated because of a traffic jam that afternoon—such a waste of time. We had barely moved for the last fifteen minutes. In the middle of the jam, I noticed a woman pulling a cart loaded with five heavy bags of white powder. She was dragging it with both hands, carefully finding her way through the traffic.She was Neeta Devi, probably in her late forties. She was covered in white po...

Sameer Gudhate Presents the Book Review of The Secrets of Floor Five by Shalini Ranjan

Some books arrive like an invitation you didn’t know you were waiting for. You open the first page expecting light chatter, a pleasant distraction, maybe a few smiles between sips of coffee — and then, somewhere between one chapter and the next, you realise you’ve been quietly pulled into a room full of lives that feel oddly familiar. The Secrets of Floor Five did that to me. It didn’t knock. It s...