“Emotional pain is not something that should be hidden away and never spoken about. There is truth in your pain, there is growth in your pain, but only if it’s first brought out into the open.” — Steven Aitchison 10th October is World Mental Health Day As I write this on World Mental Health Day, I can’t help but wonder what would or wouldn’t have been if I hadn’t asked for help. 'Help' is such a subjective term to some people but to me it means that you have the chance to com

Anyone who would hear this would think that I’m mad, well I am. When I was 16, I knew that my world had changed. I did not talk about it with anyone because I thought that no one would believe it. I quietly lived my life begging for a normal day, there was none to come. I told myself that a change might make things better; so, I went to college 2000 km away. This decision did eventually change the game. I was 20 when I finally spoke up and admitted to my family that I needed

Glenn Close once said, “It is an odd paradox that a society, which can now speak openly and unabashedly about topics that were once unspeakable, still remains largely silent when it comes to mental illness.” Life hasn’t been gardens and roses all the way, trust me when I say that. Even as I write this, I have a song playing on a loop so that I can concentrate on writing rather than the voices around me (read: in my head). For those who haven’t read my previous battle cry, her

Some journeys stay with you because of the places you saw, and then some journeys stay with you because of the people you shared them with. My trip across Nubra Valley was somehow both at once. At exactly 0630 hours, Chinab, Diana, and I left from the quiet village of Turtuk, still rubbing sleep from our eyes but buzzing with excitement for the long day ahead. The valley was waking up slowly, wrapped in soft morning light, and the cold mountain air carried that strange kind o

The road from Turtuk to Thang is not just a journey across rugged terrain—it is a passage into a space where geography, history, and emotion collide most unexpectedly. I didn’t realise it at first. To me, it was another breathtaking drive through Ladakh’s stark beauty—mountains carved by time, the Shyok River glistening like a quiet witness, and silence that somehow feels alive. But Thang was different. I felt it the moment we arrived. Standing there, looking across at Pakist