Subash.M | Assistant Professor

2025 felt like a dream beautiful at times, painful at times, but deeply real. When I look back, I don’t see just days and months I see lessons, faces, moments, and silent battles that shaped me. This year taught me more than any book ever could. Learning, however, came with a cost. I paid a lot emotionally, mentally, and sometimes silently from people I trusted, from situations I didn’t expect, and from hopes that didn’t stay long enough. Yet, I do not regret it. I thank the universe not for only giving me happiness, but for giving me understanding. I won’t pray with long requests, because you already know me well. You know what should stay with me and what should quietly leave. You know what strengthens me and what weakens me. With a smile, I accept your decisions. Gratitude fills my heart not because everything went right, but because everything made sense in the end. You gave me moments of joy, and you took some away. You gave me wounds, and you also gave me time the most powerful h...

There are moments in life when the mind feels cluttered not with problems alone, but with questions that have no clear answers. During such times, I have often heard people say, “Travel heals.” Yesterday, I didn’t just hear it I lived it. Travel is not merely about changing locations. It is about changing lenses. When we move away from our routine spaces, something within us loosens its grip. The mind begins to breathe. The heart becomes receptive. Travel, I believe, recharges us not by giving answers, but by reshaping how we look at life. My recent journey to the Guruvayur Temple in Kerala was one such quiet teacher. The temple visit itself was serene, but the real lesson came not from the sanctum or scriptures it came from the road. On my return, my bike suddenly got stuck. No heroic breakdown, no dramatic smoke just enough trouble to make me stand helplessly, staring at the machine as if it would suddenly feel guilty and start on its own. It didn’t. I tried all the expert techniques...

After a long pause, I return to writing not out of urgency, but out of stillness. Today’s blog is born from my solitude. The word solitary often carries a weight of misunderstanding many see it as emptiness, withdrawal, or loneliness. But what I experienced today was none of that. It was, in fact, a quiet kind of bliss. This evening unfolded gently. I was seated by the window of a bus, a familiar route yet somehow new. A favourite song played softly through my earphones not loud enough to escape into the world, but just enough to fill my inner space. The bus moved steadily, as if it knew there was no hurry. Outside, the evening air brushed past, cool and forgiving, carrying with it the scent of routine life tea stalls, tired streets, and people heading home with stories of their own. In that moment, I realised how rare it has become to simply be. No anxiety about what tomorrow demands, no replay of yesterday’s mistakes. No expectations either from myself or from others. Just presence. ...

Yesterday at the gym, something unexpectedly funny happened, and it completely stayed in my mind. I was doing my regular workout when a new Tamil song started playing on the smart TV. I had no idea which movie it was from, or who acted in it. Still, like anyone would, I just turned my head for a second to see the video. That one simple glance became a whole life lesson for me. A guy next to me, without even missing a rep, casually asked, “Anna, elamai thirumbuthaa?” For a moment, I froze. Elamai thirumbuthaa? Me? I didn’t even look at the heroine properly, I just looked at the screen because something was flashing. But suddenly, my small glance became a sign of “youth returning.” I immediately started wondering inside my mind  Have I really become that old? Do people think I’m out of date now? Is my youth something everyone else has to remind me about? Honestly, that single line hit me more than my workout. But after a few seconds, I started laughing to myself. Why am I even worryi...

Some days, all we really need is a simple smile. But the funny thing is, we keep forgetting to wear it. A smile is supposed to be the cheapest and the brightest ornament we own, yet we choose to hide behind layers of stress, overthinking, and unnecessary seriousness. Yesterday at Sabarimala, I saw thousands of faces each one carrying dreams, prayers, and expectations. Everyone came with a list for Aiyyappan, but the truth is simple he will only give what matches their karma, not their wish list. My brother asked me, “Why are you going so often to Sabarimala? What are you praying for every time?” I laughed and said, “Nothing.” Immediately he replied, “In the name of Aiyyappan, you are visiting Kerala very often!” Let him think so. The reality is much funnier and simpler. I don’t go to submit prayers. I go to talk. Yes, I have small conversations with Aiyyappan not the statue, not the temple priest the Aiyyappan inside my soul. It’s not a miracle. It’s not a spiritual drama. It’s just th...

Some days feel heavier than others, not because of problems, but because of the noise around us. Today my mind chose silence. A kind of solitude that doesn’t feel lonely, but freeing. Sometimes all of us need a small break, yet most of the time we fail to take even a minute for ourselves. Life keeps pulling us in many directions, and we keep running without noticing what we are losing along the way. Last month, I taught a poem its title slips from my memory now but one moment from it stays with me. A tiny sparrow came near the poet, trying to draw his attention. He was busy, too focused on his work. The sparrow, disappointed, flew away. Only after it left did the poet realise what he had missed. He waited for it to return, but it never came. That small scene hit me today. We all have our own commitments, plans, dreams. We chase them believing that one day, with effort and a little mercy from the universe, everything will fall into place. But sometimes, while running behind everything, ...

Today at the gym, a casual conversation turned into a deep discussion about life, good, and bad. People kept asking me what is good and what is bad. I simply said, “There is nothing good or bad, it all depends on how we see it.” Life is not a fixed rulebook it’s a matter of perception. But some couldn’t agree with me. They kept repeating the same question as if they wanted a clear, black-and-white answer. One guy asked, “If a boy abuses a girl, is that good or bad according to your view?” I said, “He will harvest what he does.” Every action has its consequence that’s the law of life. But still, they couldn’t get what I meant. I wasn’t defending wrong actions, I was only saying that labeling everything as good or bad often hides the truth behind human behavior. People do things based on their upbringing, emotions, and mental state. We cannot judge everything through one lens. Then another asked me, “What is life?” I said, “Nothing.” Because life, to me, is not a thing to define it’s som...