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.
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 healing is not a straight line but a set of ups and downs in the journey of healing.
Healing is not linear. It doesn’t represent a straight line in a graph.
But it does look like ups and downs.
When I was admitted to NIMHANS in 2025, I experienced this.
Every few weeks I met new people and I had to go through different sets of ups and downs.
I met people who are hyper-active and also people who were depressed.
I met people who were delusional and people who had OCD, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and all sorts of other mental health disorders.
Of course they weren’t to be blamed for these, it’s their psychiatric disorders that require healing.
I went to yoga classes in NIMHANS and I learnt yoga and it had an important role in my healing.
It gave me a structure to my days and I enjoyed it as well.
But even with yoga, I sometimes stopped going and sometimes I prioritized it.
It had its set of ups and downs.
Mostly when we think that when we are in the down phase of healing, we are moving backwards in our journey of healing. But that’s not true.
Even when we’re feeling down, it’s a part of the growth process and the journey of healing.
So yeah the journey of healing has lots of ups and downs and my stay at NIMHANS last year accelerated it.
And when we look back after many months and years we see that we have grown so much.
Thanks for reading this line! It means a lot.
The author writes about his experiences with spirituality to persuade readers to have hope about life.
When I was 16 I started meditating daily.
I read books on spirituality and religion.
I even watched YouTube videos of spiritual gurus who talked about God, the nature of reality, truth, etc.
But I didn’t understand most of it.
But what little I understood was that there is something beyond what we see in life.
All the money, fame, success, pride, etc. is only temporary.
What’s more permanent can be found through spirituality.
So I started meditating.
Although I messed up big time trying to meditate without guidance, I think what it taught me was more than any course or book could teach me.
That teaching is that normal life is not as bad as we think.
I learnt from meditating wrongly that meditation isn’t necessary to attain nirvana or moksh.
What’s necessary is self-honesty and good behavior towards others.
If you can be honest about your intentions and behave well to others in a way that is just, I think that’s a good start.
So as you might know I had to go through a few episodes of psychosis as I wrote about it in my other mental health blog posts, that’s a topic for another blog post.
What I want to tell you through this blog post is that there is hope.
Mundane life isn’t all that there is. There is a truth beyond life that can set you free.
It can make you realize the divinity that lies within you and all other beings.
I like to ask myself this question,” What is God?”
We might think we know what God is- a supreme godhead, or an impersonal power or absolute infinity or nothingness.
But I just like to think that I don’t know what God is.
This lets me think beyond the preconceived ideas of other people about God.
So yeah there is hope.
I’m not asking you to believe in God. But I’m asking you to ask yourself what’s beyond all this.
Thanks for reading this line! It means a lot.
The author writes why saying “Yes” is as important as saying “No” to life.
I don’t usually say “No” but I wish I had said it more.
I think I’m not clear about what I want.
Sure I want to buy a house, buy a car, a bike, and have a certain net worth. But I don’t think I’m clear on my purpose in life.
I mean I don’t value money or any kind of scarce resource more than time.
I value relationships, time, people, etc. more than money.
In fact I say “Yes” more than I say “No”.
I want to meet more people, have more interactions, go out more, read more books, learn more courses, etc.
I don’t want to work more to earn money. I want to do what’s best for me.
And earning money isn’t the only thing in the world.
It is important but it’s not everything.
I think being a good human being is what’s most important. And to be a good person, we need to interact more, talk to more people, understand ourselves, write more journals, etc.
So yeah I don’t say “No” much but I do say “Yes” to things that might interfere with my goals.
I mean what is life more than a journey towards your goals.
And if you say “No” to the things that would enrich your life in the journey, there’s no point in living such a life.
So I say “Yes”.
Thanks for reading this line! It means a lot.
The author writes about why he’d choose a business class air travel option over others for travelling across the country.
If I am going on a trip across the country, I would use my credit card reward points to book a business class airplane ticket at a discount.
At least that’s what I would really do.
I am not a good bike or car driver. And I don’t want to waste my time travelling in a bus or a train.
I value my time and time is money.
So yeah if I had to travel from Kolkata to Bengaluru, I would never, at least for now, travel in a bus, train, car or bike. I would take the airplane.
Because I really don’t want to waste my time.
And I know there’s the “viewing the scenery while travelling” part which I would miss.
I’m sure I want to know the culture and I wish I could travel by train, bus, car or bike.
But I would be lying to you if I said I would go on a bike trip because I won’t. I would realistically get a business class airplane ticket.
Thank you for reading this line. It means a lot!
The author writes about his motivations behind learning Spanish in his leisure time.
I’m learning Spanish because I like to learn new things and maybe in the future it’ll be useful in my career as a data analyst and writer.
I’m learning it on the duolingo app and this blog post is not sponsored by them.
Currently I’m at rank 14 of my Spanish learning journey. And I’m gradually moving forward.
But I have to say, it’s an altogether new experience. I kind of love it.
I’m learning about Spanish culture and their ways of thinking through the language.
And it’s fun.
I mean I’m still learning new words in Spanish and I sometimes struggle with the gender related words or the tense. But I’ll get there soon..
Maybe in the future I’ll join a more comprehensive course in Spanish than duolingo.
I was also asked by people if I’m learning French or German. But I just say I’m moving forward gradually.
I don’t want to put too much pressure on my mental health and I want to take it slow.
I might learn French and German later but right now I’m learning Spanish also because it’s easy to pick up quickly.
Thank you for reading this line! It means a lot.
The author writes about how he failed in high school and still managed to complete his MBA years later in spite of other people’s negative remarks.
When I was in class 11 in high school, I failed and was detained for one year.
I was asked to change schools and study in class 11 again.
It was a failure for me. And I felt very bad about myself at that time.
I felt like I was not enough and that I was somehow flawed and not normal.
I remember a few remarks from my relatives about me failing one year and it stuck with me.
Whenever I wanted to feel good about myself, those remarks about failing one year would haunt me.
“How can I be a successful person knowing that I failed a test in class 11?”
“I am a failure because I failed in my studies.”
All kinds of negative self-talk started in my mind since then.
But fast forward 10 years, I have completed my MBA in Data Science.
I have completed a post-graduate degree.
And I am proud of myself.
I have persisted and not given up.
I have worked and I have achieved my version of success no matter the size.
My failure in class 11 set me up for success by making me more ambitious.
After I failed in class 11 I wanted to show my relatives that I can do much bigger things.
If they want to make me a black sheep of the family, I’ll show that I can be different in a great way.
That I can be different from them by getting an MBA degree and someday starting my own business.
And I know the importance of forgiveness and that it’s normal for those remarks by relatives.
I do forgive them for what they said, and I also know that the fire inside me for greater dreams has been lit up and there’s no stopping now.
I am grateful for my failure in class 11 and my relatives’ remarks. Because they were fuel for my successes.
Thank you for reading this line! It means a lot.
The author writes about himself being a failure all his life and how he found meaning and purpose in spite of that.
I think I’ve been a black sheep of my family. I’ve been failing at everything I attempted to do for the entire 26 years of my life.
But I think I’ll be successful in my life.
When I was in class 11 at my school, I failed a year. And I was detained and I had to repeat a year.
And I identified myself with a failure. And it can get demoralizing sometimes but it taught me a lesson.
The lesson was “No matter what happens, failure is a stepping stone for success. It’s not the end of the world.”
Even after failing multiple times, if you can keep going for a lofty goal in life, you’ll be successful.
In fact if you’re working hard to succeed even after failing multiple times, you’re a “successful person” in your own right.
When I was studying for my undergraduate degree, I wanted to start a career in copywriting.
I even bought a course after asking money from my parents.
And I ended up leaving the course half-way because I found it was very difficult for me.
And that was also a failure.
But it also taught me the same lesson- to keep moving forward.
I know I don’t do well in classroom environments when a teacher teaches me a fixed curriculum.
I like to learn on my own. And I thrive in that way.
And that way I’ve completed my MBA in Data Science(online mode), I’ve completed many small courses.
I’ve started a business in 2020 and failed(which is a win because I learnt many business lessons).
I’ve never stopped believing in myself. And every day is a battle I still continue to fight.
And as I said if a person continues to work hard in spite of failing multiple times, they’re a “successful person” in their own right.
Life isn’t the same all the time. It changes. You change.
And nothing lasts forever. “This too shall pass” as they say.
So success is just around the corner even if it’s too small to notice.
But it’s by being grateful for those small successes that we learn to change our identities from a “failure” to a “success”.
Thank you for reading this line. It means a lot to me.
