Unfiltered Musings

 You know what cracks me up? We have parenting groups for everything. There’s one full of stressed-out parents from regular schools—crying on WhatsApp about school projects, syllabus, tests, PTMs, and how to get their kid to remember the difference between a parallelogram and trauma. Then there’s the homeschooling gang—us legends who have no idea what we’re doing, but we’re happy doing it anyway. Like, “We’re teaching from the heart, not the textbook,” mostly because we can’t find the textbook. And then, in the same universe, we have Dolly Chaiwala casually collaborating with Bill Gates. BILL GATES. I swear, half of Microsoft’s employees haven’t even seen that man in real life—but Dolly bhai is out there serving chai and getting selfies with him. Meanwhile, we’re out here teaching phonics, algebra, and basic humanity, hoping our kids remember to wear pants for Zoom class. Aur upar se humare PM sahab, who—I’m not even sure—went to school or not, but started by selling chai... and no...

  It’s funny — no, actually it’s tragic — how obsessed parents have become about which company or brand their kid should end up working for. Google. Infosys. Microsoft. Amazon. The so-called dream companies. Some parents talk about it like their kid’s entire worth depends on which logo ends up on their office ID card. What’s even more absurd is that many of them have close family members working in these so-called “top” companies — and yet, they conveniently ignore the pressure, the exhaustion, and the silent suffering that come with it. They see the brand, not the burnout. Let’s talk about the truth no one likes to admit — the dark side of the corporate world. I’ve seen software professionals who are just… running on fumes. Chasing deadlines that never end. Fighting office politics that drain the soul. Living on caffeine and anxiety. Smiling on Zoom calls while mentally collapsing inside. These aren’t people chasing dreams — these are people surviving their 9-to-6 (which, let’s be...

When people hear the word homeschooling, the first thing they ask me is — > “But what about socialization?” People imagine homeschoolers living in a bubble, disconnected from the “real world.” But here’s what I’ve realized — being around a crowd doesn’t automatically make someone social. True socialization isn’t about the number of people you interact with; it’s about how you interact with them. It’s about connection, boundaries, empathy, respect, and self-awareness —  It is understanding who deserves your time and emotions, and who doesn’t. It’s knowing where to draw a line — that you don’t open up deeply to strangers or pour your heart out to every person who smiles at you. It’s about learning how to talk differently to different kinds of people — how to carry yourself with manners, how to stay civil even when angry, and how to handle conversations that test your patience. It’s knowing how to respond to uncomfortable or nosey people — in a way that’s not rude, but makes sure t...