Magic Moments

The Blogchatter Book of Friendship Amazon : Link Publisher ‏ : ‎ Notion Press Publication date ‏ : ‎ 17 August 2026 Language ‏ : ‎ English Paperback ‏ : ‎ 250 pages About The Book: Eighteen writers. Eighteen friendships. One truth - that the most enduring stories we carry are rarely our own alone.  The Blogchatter Book of Friendship is the fourth anthology from one of India's most celebrated creator communities, arriving at a milestone - a decade of Blogchatter. From the ghost of a best friend who finds his way home one last time, to four women who claim a Kolkata terrace as their own; from a retired Urdu teacher and the barefoot girl next door who pulls him back to life, to a stunt double who discovers that the friendship she was faking became the only real thing - these eighteen stories span grief and laughter, betrayal and grace, the friendships we choose and the ones that quietly choose us.  Funny, tender, devastating, and occasionally supernatural, this is a collection t...

 Rarely do I re-watch anything. Life is short and I was of the opinion that I should always chase new experiences, rather than relive the old ones. I thwarted my own conviction, when seeking comfort and familiarity, I sought already loved experiences. And this time I penned my thoughts too. I wish I could discuss a series I watch with friends, like we did in college, and school, but now its almost impossible. So I repurpose my notes and observations from scratchpad & journal to publish something on the blog finally. If you too have watched this modern CDrama, read ahead and let's see if our notes match. There’s this scene — the backdrop is high school — where rumors have spread around Wei Yifan and guys in her class are bothering her. Sang Yan pins the one who spread it onto Wei Yifan’s desk and asks him to apologize. Wei Yifan blurts ‘sorry’ without a moment’s delay. Sang Yan clicks his tongue at her apologizing for nothing and clarifies it’s him who should be sorry. This scen...

There is something about the cityscapes – the tiny lights dotting the horizon, skyscrapers, multiplexes, public parks and traffic. I am always reminded of my days in Mumbai when I watched The First Frost. I am having this phase where I rewatch my comfort dramas instead of exploring new ones. Hometown Cha Cha Cha is done, now I am revisiting The First Frost. As the title song begins and takes us through glimpses of the past and the present in the characters’ lives, it resonates deep within, I am reminded of my high school years (pre-internet era where we would just play Solitaire, Mario, Dave, Aladdin, and Minesweeper on Windows desktop) and my life in Mumbai. City life especially life in a metropolis as a single woman with family living miles away is melancholic, solitary, interspersed with occasional outing with friends, office dinner parties with colleagues, and some travel opportunities. Daily life is un-phenomenal, routine, sometimes a bit of drudgery having existential questions t...

   a story of friendship, passion for research, a life cut short  There are several quotes in this book that touched me, held true, audaciously. The cover is beautiful – and was the first thing that drew me to this novel. Next was the blurb – a female friendship, one of them missing in the Himalayas, societal expectations and female angst/rage. It is a novel of self-reflection, of friendship, of male chauvinism, and a search for explanation to the mystery. At 25 pages mark I wanted to write pages on my life and my best friend. I didn’t, except annotate at places, and kept reading. It is divided into 3 parts – Mansi’s POV, Bhaskar’s and Tara’s POV. Tara is missing for weeks, and Mansi finally gathers courage to leave her life with her husband, in laws, work – taking a short sabbatical – to trace Tara’s whereabouts, if not for a glimmer of hope for her survival, for absolution of her own guilt. She shuts herself for days in Jora, spacing out watching the TV, and sleeping in...

I do not want to renew my domain. Magic-moments.in. A URL I had long associated with my blog, but it’s an unnecessary expense I feel now that I am not regularly writing. It is not that important to me anymore. What’s more important now is to have a writing routine, practice typing words done daily, with a goal of a wordcount, and hone them on stipulated days, polished enough to publish as an essay or blog. It’s not content churning but a healthy habit of articulating well through my existing vocabulary while also learning new ones. New ways of seeing. Making and cultivating my own voice. Be it clauses after clauses, never-ending, or simple crisp details, several full stops in a single line. As my reading has grown over the years to be more diverse, my writing has not. It has rather degraded back to the rudimentary level of decades past, I feel. Books I choose to read these days have depth, make me reflect, take the pen and scribble in my journal, or type on Substack or here. Apart fr...

  Love. I have read a few books in the genre, but the number is fewer than those in mystery and thriller genre. But I have watched enough movies and shows to recommend it. I list down below few of my latest favorite shows on love, relationship and romance – it encompasses everything – the highs and lows of a relationship, the intricacies of sharing space, trust issues, care-taking, all with love at its core. It’s the adult version of love, along with the teenage version of butterflies in the stomach, and the anticipation. First Love: The Japanese web series was released on Netflix sometime last year. I watched in almost entirely while travelling - flights to Pune from Bengaluru, to Bhubaneshwar from Pune and train journey to Keonjhar from Bhubaneshwar. It was a roller coaster of emotions. The story goes back and forth from 1990s and 2000s. A cute little teenage romance brews between the high schoolers - boy, Namiki, and the girl, Noguchi. The fresh brush of first love. It i...

A girl thinking When I read, it is like being a voyeur. Bearing witness to someone’s deepest fears, overwhelming emotions, untold miseries, memories held dear, and secrets long buried. It is for a few hours that I wear their skin, reside in their world, see through their eyes and feel through their words on the page. It is almost reimagining a different life. And many a times it makes me think – my own life, rethink my views, revisit my old memories. On Earth We are Briefly Gorgeous - I thought of my grandfather while reading about Little Dog and his white grandfather Paul. That time when we traveled to Nayagarh in the night bus from Rayagada, few months after the birth of my sister. I had some school holidays – durga puja vacations perhaps – so elders suggested I enjoy my vacation with cousins at Nayagarh, while my mother could rest awhile after her delivery with one less person to care after. I had munched fryums, sev, and coca cola, deliriously happy travelling without my parents, ...