The author writes about his return journey from Kolkata to Bangalore after he went to Kolkata a week ago.
Me, my mother and father arrived in Bangalore yesterday, and the weather is fine here. Much cooler than Kolkata’s weather. The journey is… read more.
I’ve started a new self-hosted blog at anirbansaren.com. The full article is available on anirbansaren.com. Please visit that blog.
Me, my mother and father arrived in Bangalore yesterday, and the weather is fine here. Much cooler than Kolkata’s weather. The journey is cozy.
There was a lot of traffic congestion on our way from Howrah to the Dum Dum Airport.
But we reached just in time.
Overall I think my visit to Howrah from Bangalore was successful.
I went to give puja at the Dakshineshwar Kali Temple. And I voted.
I also met many of my relatives and cousins.
And I’m grateful to God for these experiences.
Thank you for reading this line! It means a lot.
The author writes about what he does when he wakes up in the morning to stay awake.
When I wake up in the morning I try to write one blog post. Sometimes it’s easy, sometimes it’s difficult.
But it wakes my mind up.
Therefore, I don’t need coffee or tea to wake up, I just need to write a blog post.
Also when I write, my mind becomes very active.
And maybe because of this activity, I wake up with ease.
I’m not saying that it’s easy for me to wake up. All I’m saying is that it’s more desirable to wake up since I have to write a blog post to write when I wake up.
And I love writing.
Thanks for reading this line! It means a lot.
The author writes about his experiences and realizations about self-respect and getting respect from others.
I have a friend who is very transparent and pure hearted.
He has a lot of self-respect.
So he shares me reels on Instagram about self-respect.
And his point of view is that if a girl doesn’t respect you, you shouldn’t chase her.
Other than love advice, I also learnt many other things from his reels.
But self-respect is a key idea that changed my life.
Before I was admitted to NIMHANS(National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences, Bangalore) in 2025, I used to call everyone “Sir”,”Maam”,”Dada”(elder brother),”Didi”(elder sister).
I didn’t realize that I was unnecessarily putting others on a pedestal.
I was giving people more respect than they deserved.
And I was also making myself uncomfortable and feeling disrespected by them.
So I stopped using those titles like sir, madam, dada, didi, unnecessarily.
I use them only when the person is an elderly person who is somehow related to my circle of friends and family.
Moreover, I have learnt to respect myself more. I am kinder to myself.
And I noticed that people started taking me more seriously, and I got more respect from people.
I also used to unconsciously smile a lot to get people’s approval. But recently I decided to become more comfortable in my own skin and to love myself more and to smile less.
So I don’t smile unnecessarily with everyone.
But I think I have grown a lot. I don’t think that shallow tricks like not smiling or not saying titles make any difference.
The real difference is the medicines and the psychotherapy from NIMHANS.
My doctors have worked very hard to help me. And I am grateful to them.
So yeah I think if you want to get respect from others, you need to respect yourself first.
Thank you for reading this line. It means a lot!
The author writes about his arrival at Howrah, his hometown, and how he plans to stay there for a few days before returning to Bangalore.
Yesterday I came home to Howrah from Bangalore after a long time via flight.
And I feel bliss after eating the homemade food that my mother and father cook at home.
I think it’s important to visit home and balance work and family.
I don’t have the work part figured out just yet but I’m on my way to secure job interviews.
But I’ve figured out my family part.
My parents and my siblings are there. And they mean a lot to me.
There isn’t much story here. But I was a bit anxious throughout the journey and I was observing the people around me.
I had my fruit juice(Maiza) bottle with me which I was occasionally sipping throughout my journey.
I’ll be staying in Howrah for the next 7 days. And I have plans other than voting.
I didn’t just come here to vote. But I came to accomplish some important tasks which I’ll write about in the future(So stay tuned).
To see my parents’ faces when I came home gave me immense joy.
And I drank a glass of lassi after I entered home.
And I have to tell you I had the best sleep last night in a long time.
So yeah I came home and I’ll return soon after a few days.
Thanks for reading this line! It means a lot.
The author writes about how his preconception that he was a failure because he failed in school was wrong. It wasn’t his failure to begin with, it was society’s failure.
When I was in class 11 I had failed one year and I was detained in the same class.
And I had been carrying the burden on my shoulders that I was a failure.
I had never introspected if it was indeed true that I had failed.
Last night I was journaling and I realized that it was not my failure.
But it was someone else’s failure.
It was society’s failure.
I was trying my best to survive but it was society who had failed me.
I was trying out a socratic method of introspection with the guidance of Claude AI.
And it turned out that I was studying physics, chemistry, computer science and maths because my parents told me to.
Not because I wanted to.
I felt as if I was learning something I found strange.
I felt stupid and as if it was a waste of my time.
I felt sad and stressed. I felt tired of all the traveling to school, coaching classes, and tutors.
And yet I didn’t understand those subjects.
I felt, “If the world is so difficult, I don’t want to live in a difficult world.”
I couldn’t sit down to study.
I played videogames 16 hours a day from morning till midnight.
I slept less, ate irregularly and didn’t study.
I avoided everything.
And I was also reading so many self-help books to help me figure out what was wrong with me.
My psychologists said that nothing was wrong with me. But I believed something was wrong with me.
I wasn’t having fun while avoiding life, I was trying my best to cope with the sadness and pain and the stress.
And then when I failed I finally felt free.
But this feeling of freedom and relief was short-lived.
I was again back to repeating the year in another school where I took admission.
And somehow I passed high school with the same subjects.
And for a few months I studied engineering at a private university but I dropped out.
And again I got the feeling of relief and freedom.
This time I took a Bachelor of Arts (honours) in philosophy course in college.
But due to some technical problems I had to change my subject to English and I had to drop out.
Then I took a bachelor of business administration course from my last online college.
And I studied it and graduated and took MBA and graduated that too.
But all this while I kept thinking that “I am a failure”.
And boy I couldn’t be so wrong.
I thought that since class 11 was something I experienced and I failed it, I am the failure.
But the truth is it was my parents’ and society’s expectations that made me take physics, chemistry, computer science, maths as subjects.
And if I “failed” that and felt relief, it wasn’t my failure really, it was their failure.
I was never a failure.
I gave my best and I did my best to cope with the stress and sadness.
I read self-help books to find the solution.
But I couldn’t find any.
So it was never my failure.
I was living in someone else’s design of a life.
It wasn’t mine to begin with.
And I also realized that even right now I am living in someone else’s design of my life.
I am living in fear of not getting a job, fear of never making it, fear of not having a comparable income to others.
I am trying to get a data analytics job but all I want to do is write and read and experience the world and share it with you.
I guess I need to work on this aspect now before it’s too late.
But yeah I was never a failure, it wasn’t my failure.
I am not a failure.
Thanks for reading this line! It means a lot.
This author explains with a story why “This is the story of a lucky man…” is the most appropriate opening for his autobiography.
If I ever write an autobiography I would begin it with “This is the story of a lucky man…”.
Why?
Because it is the only opening sentence that could make sense.
I could begin with “The secret to success is hard work…” or “Don’t give up ever…”, but I think that “This is the story of a lucky man” is the most appropriate one.
Let me explain why.
When I was in class 11 in school, I couldn’t study. I simply couldn’t sit down and feel like studying.
I’d play video games from morning till midnight daily because I couldn’t study and this was my way to escape my boredom.
I was going to therapy but I kept changing therapists because I wasn’t satisfied with their counselling.
Four years later I started taking a degree course in Bachelor of Business Administration and I scored 70% in the aggregate results.
I was able to study sometimes and I believe it was due to the medication that my psychiatrist had given me.
And that’s how I also completed my Master of Business Administration in Data Science last year.
When I was in class 11 I didn’t know what I didn’t know.
I was lost and I didn’t realize it.
I was lucky to have found good psychiatrists and therapists.
Without them I’d still be helpless.
But it is not psychology, psychiatry or self-help that helped me.
It was luck.
I didn’t know that if I took medicine I’d be able to study.
But the events in my life forced me to take medicines.
I wasn’t voluntarily doing any of it. The universe helped me do it.
It’s as if the universe had chosen me to suffer and to heal my own suffering.
And I learnt a lot of lessons that way.
Actually none of us can take responsibility for our successes because none of us can explain the sheer amount of luck that’s involved in these processes.
So yeah I really think I would begin my autobiography with “This is the story of a lucky man…”.
Thank you for reading this line. It means a lot to me.
I want a tattoo that says “All Is Vanity” and I would put it on my right arm.
I would do this because I’m inspired by my favorite singer, Christina Grimmie.
She had a tattoo exactly like this and I want to remember her every day through this tattoo.
She loved Jesus and she cared for her fans(or “frands” as she called us).
We had a ritual. Instead of saying “Team Grimmie Rocks” she would say “Team Grimmie Rawwks \|/”.
But in June 2016, she was murdered and we lost an angel.
She was a good person, she achieved quite a bit of success with over 3 million subscribers on YouTube and success in “The Voice” TV music show.
But God took her back.
In these moments we start to question “Why do bad things happen to good people?”
But the truth is we must trust God’s plan. God’s plan is greater than our plans. This was said in Christina’s Memorial Service as on YouTube.
But we still have her music and we must share it. So I’m sharing it with you.
Please subscribe to her YouTube channel.
https://www.youtube.com/@christinagrimmie
I believe listening to Christina’s music will help most people find inner strength to fight life’s challenges and find hope.
Other than that, from my humble perspective the meaning of the tattoo is beautiful.
I’m not a deeply religious person, but I care about God and love God.
I believe that serving mankind is serving God. God lives in each one of us.
So if we serve others, we are serving God indirectly or rather more directly than praying in a temple or a church.
But from the context of this tattoo “All Is Vanity”, I know a term “Maya”.
In India we say “Sab e maya”. “All is illusory”.
Maya means illusion in the most basic sense.
Please correct me if I’m wrong, but I understand that God is the ultimate reality.
Whether you call it God, or Brahman, or Paramatman, it doesn’t matter.
There is this realization. I don’t know what this realization is.
But it is the realization that changes everything.
This realization is the realization of the Truth, God, the Ultimate Reality,etc.
And all the temporary achievements we have and all the attachments and desires are all maya, an illusion.
I’m glad that you are reading this line. Thanks a lot!
On February 7th, 2022, an anxious man discovered the power of hope. He realized that embracing mistakes can prevent regret, inspiring him to create his blog, “Hope With Anirban, Mistakes To Stop Regret.” The blog aims to support those facing mental health issues by sharing personal stories and fostering hope.
Let me tell you a story.
On February 7th 2022, when the entire universe was expanding as it was, and people were going about their business, a man who was feeling anxious about everything while spending the entire day at home, thought to himself, “What if?”
“What if…?”
These are the words that belong to not that man but something much greater than himself.
These were the words of HOPE.
Hope is what moves us.
It’s what wakes us up every morning even though we see no way if we think logically.
The man thought, “What if I can overcome my fear of making mistakes? What if I want to live life and have no regrets?”
“What if I intentionally make MISTAKES TO STOP REGRET?”
I still remember I stole this idea from that anxious man who is very close to my heart, in fact he is me.
And I put that idea on the tagline of my blog:
Hope With Anirban, Mistakes To Stop Regret.
It means we must not be afraid to make mistakes. And no one ever regretted making mistakes. People regret about not doing stuff, not about doing them wrong.
And that’s why my blog exists. I want to help people with mental health issues overcome them.
I want to give people hope by sharing my and other people’s stories.
And this gives me joy.
Thanks for reading this post.
A good leader must first embody qualities of a good person, defined primarily by honesty and integrity. While not perfect, such individuals stay true to their word and admit their mistakes. Morality is crucial, often valuing personal character as much as success or wealth. The reflection on leadership is influenced by personal experiences.
I belief a good leader must be a good person even before they start leading people.
What is a good person?
Now this one is what I can answer.
I can answer this NOT because I think I am a good person.
I am not a bad person. I am moderately good. But only other people’s statements regarding my character will be true.
So what is a good person?
I have read the Bhagavad Gita’s Chapter 2 but I will not borrow definitions from it because that’s not verified by me with direct experience.
In my opinion, a good person is a person who is honest(to himself/herself always and to others most of the time).
I know a person who is older than me. They are a leader in their profession. And they are good as a person in the common sense. But they are also honest to the extent that they will go out of their way to keep their word.
It’s 21st century and I am talking about the “word”.
Who cares about honesty these days? Right?
Well, the answer isn’t “nobody”. Although nobody is honest all the time. And nobody is flawless. There are people who are honest and pure hearted.
They would admit they are wrong even if it means their opponents would win.
Morality is as important as money or success.
The person I was talking about can be any good leader in the world.
But I had my mother’s life floating before my eyes when I was writing the above lines.
Same goes for my elder sister.
Thank you for reading this blog post. Please comment your opinion on what a good leader is.
