My sense of self was starting to crumble. I journaled to keep my sanity intact and to process these emotions. The idea that maybe someday I’d go bald and won’t be what one could call “conventionally beautiful”. It was a challenge to be kind to myself. I started picking out every flaw in me and made worsened my mental state on purpose. I was at a very dark place, and at this time, and I was straight up self-destructive.
Less Than Perfect, More Than Women’s Month
They’ll parade out feminism’s greatest hits in listicles and short profiles. We will recognise most of the names and faces, if not all. These role models of past and present that fought and won their battles. And, even those of us who brandish our tee-shirts saying “Women don’t owe you perfect/pretty/nice” will wonder: if she was able to do it, why haven’t I?
The Emancipation Of A Heavy and Weighted Heart In A Pandemic
2020 was the year I woke up to the possibility of being both fat and bald. I had the gumption to be only one of those. My PCOS was left unattended for far too long, and she was finally making me choose.
This essay isn’t a celebration of the 17 kgs I managed to plead out of my body. It isn’t a watered-down version of Chicken Soup for the Fat and Hurting Soul or another fat person inspiring you, notwithstanding their weight. I am not walking on-set, a months-old photo of me juxtaposed unto the screen, emphatically telling you that if I can, you can.
How Parenting Changed my Equation with Food
I was a one-pot meal person. Things changed, though, after marriage and parenthood. Food became a lot of things besides a means of sustenance. It became a means of bonding, a reason for earning gratitude, an outlet for creative experimentation. And many a time it even led to exasperation and boredom.
