India's Therapy Aesthetic

It's World Mental Health Day today and while my timeline is flooded with pastel quotes, heart emojis, and "be kind to your mind" messages, I decided, why not discuss how India actually views mental health? so yes there used to be a time in India, mental health used to mean "don't inform the neighbors or they will believe you are crazy" Flash forward to 2025 and therapy is suddenly cool. Everyone's either off to therapy, considering therapy, or at least making reels with hashtags like healing era ✨.

But let's stop there. Is this a cultural awakening or another Indian rehashing of Western trends? Because somehow it seems like we have leapfrogged from "log kya kahenge" to "look what my therapist said today" in record time.👀

And sincerely, it makes sense. We are in a nation where the education system crushes you, the job market shames you, politics gaslights you and your family thinks "just get married" is a treatment plan. Somewhere between being overworked, underpaid and forever being compared with Sharma ji ka beta, therapy fell into the chat.💬

Now, if people are leaving because they really want to heal, or because it's something that looks good on Instagram stories, that is a different argument. But what's certain, therapy is no longer spoken about in hushed tones...it's flaunted, filtered and hashtagged.💚

👉The Rise of Insta-Therapy: When Healing Met Hashtags

Social media did what decades of awareness campaigns were unable to. It made therapy seem accessible. But it did make it too easy.

Instagram became our new therapist.

Three-slide carousels and quoteable aesthetics now walk us through existential breakdowns.👊

"Cut off negativity." "Choose peace." "Manifest happiness."💇

We repost, we nod and we feel instantaneously cured until the next overthinking spiral at 2 a.m.

This is what I refer to as snack-sized healing. theory comforting, practice hollow. Because actual therapy isn't pretty. It's messy. It's facing childhood wounds, not captioning them. It's not vibe-checking your energy. it's staying in silence with the parts of yourself you have been avoiding for years.💢

But I will credit Instagram with this, it opened up the discussion. Even performative awareness is awareness. Aesthetics may have initiated the revolution, but others gained the strength to seek assistance off the screen and that's what counts.✊

👉Emotional Capitalism: The Business of Burnout

When a society is finally forced to recognize its overall fatigue, someone is going to cash in on it. Step in the "self-care industry."👌

Mental well-being is a billion-rupee industry now. Brands are selling you lavender candles, anti-anxiety teas and mindfulness apps. all guaranteeing calm in 15 minutes or fewer. We've commodified therapy and made healing an aesthetic.💁

Self-care is not retail therapy. But that's what it's turned into. a capitalist lullaby for workaholics. Because somehow purchasing a new scented candle is how you #reconnect with your inner child.👫

Let's be real the only thing that's actually relaxing is knowing your rent is on time.

Nevertheless, there is a silver lining. the dialogue has made it to the mainstream. People are reading about trauma, challenging their survival patterns and grasping mental health sans labels. The consciousness is lopsided, yes but it's no longer hidden.🙌

👉Therapy as a Status Symbol

In urban India, therapy is the latest luxury. the emotional counterpart to an iPhone update.🙇

Individuals use "My therapist says…" in a conversation as a badge of honor. It's no longer healing, it's branding.😎

We have created a culture where attending therapy is a sign of intellectual gravitas. the contemporary signifier of self-awareness. But what lies beneath the well-groomed veneer is the same chasm that affects all of India: accessibility🙌

Because while the urban elite argue about attachment patterns, someone in a Tier-3 town continues to be advised, "Beta, sab Bhagwan ke haath mein hai."

Therapy is progress, yes, but it’s also privilege. And it says something deeply uncomfortable that peace of mind, like everything else, comes easier to those who can afford it.💸

👉The Generational Shift: From Silence to Oversharing

Our parents grew up in a world where feelings were inconvenient.

Crying? Weak. 👀

Anxiety? Overthinking. 👤

Stress? Just be strong.👾

Life gave no room for feelings only survival was crucial. They did not possess therapists, hashtags or even the vocabulary to handle what was taking place within.

We, however, were left with the luxury of paying attention. To feel. To wonder. To worry. To ask for help. And perhaps that is why we swing so dramatically from silence to too much information, from pent-up thoughts to sharing every mood on the internet.🖥

We dissect each thought, tag each emotion and occasionally even convert our struggles into merit badges of self-awareness. Social media promotes it but even without social prowess, we compare, we measure, we tell our pain like a tale meant to be observed.

😎Here is the surprise: actual healing does not reside at the extremes. It is not covering up or parading around. It is observing the turbulence in your mind, tolerating it and finding ways to move on despite that. That is the lesson our parents never had a chance to learn and we are still struggling to get it right.

👉Sameeksha's Verdict: Navigating the Therapy Boom Without Losing Your Mind

India is finally discussing mental health slowly, messily and imperfectly. But directionless talk can just end up as sound. Here is my no-nonsense guide to surviving the therapy boom:

1. Choose Real Help, Not Pretty Filters✌

A therapist's recommendation is more important than their Instagram feed.

Credentials > captions.

2. Teletherapy Works💻

Can't get to a city clinic? Online sessions are still earnest healing. Don't dismiss them.

3. Stop Performing Your Pain💃

Not all emotions are for an audience. Some epiphanies are yours, not the world's.

4. Consistency Trumps Clout🙇

No single session is going to resolve years of baggage. Healing is a long game, not one of likes.

5. Learn Emotional Hygiene💬

Sleep, boundaries, water. the things Instagram doesn't post about.

6. Talk, Not Tweet🙋

Listen to friends who share. Actual support > online validation.

7. Support Access, Not Awareness👐

Follow NGOs, give, or share real resources. Change occurs offline too.

👉Best Telehealth Apps for Online Counselling in India

Amaha: This provides professional therapy and free counseling services throughout India to help support your mental well-being.

TalktoAngel: This is one of the biggest online counselling platform in India that offers online counselling and other allied mental health services.

BetterLYF: Provides top-notch psychological counseling online from experienced and skilled listed therapists.

Rocket Health: Offers judgment-free and confidential treatment of all mental and emotional issues.

CareMe Health: Provides therapy, psychiatry and self-care resources, all the privacy of your smartphone.

👉NGOs to Support Mental Health in India

The Live Love Laugh Foundation: A non-governmental organization that promotes awareness of stress, anxiety, depression and mental illness in India.

The Sangath: Draws upon community and health system assets to provide psychosocial interventions aimed at preventing and treating mental health issues.

👉The Takeaway: Healing in Progress (And That's Okay)

Therapy in India is no longer taboo. it's trending. And that's both beautiful and concerning.

Gorgeous because we are finally speaking. Troubling because we have begun confusing speaking with healing.⭐

But change is never elegant. It's clumsy, boisterous and full of paradox and thats fine.

Because even though half of India is still pretending for the algorithm, the other half is actually finding solace in genuine conversation, genuine counselors and genuine self-reflection.

Confession time:-I had big plans to publish this blog at sunrise, surfing the wave of popular hashtags and peak engagement. But guess what? My own mind plotted a wee rebellion. Overthinking, over-feeling, under-functioning. So here it is, late, a bit messy but fully caffeinated and straight to your heart.💚

Take a minute today: send a message to a friend, make that appointment, or simply sit with yourself and breathe. Ignore the captions, ignore the likes. genuine care doesn't require validation.✊

So on World Mental Health Day today, look beyond the hashtags.

Because at the end of the day,

It's about feeling, learning, growing… and perhaps laughing at the chaos that got you here.

So take it, own it, let your heart be heard.

At times the soul speaks loudest when the world is not listening.💫

LOVE IN REWIND

I had him once,

not in promises, not in forever,

but in the quiet way he showed up

every ping, every concern,

a presence I mistook for permanence.

Back then, I was blind,

too careless to see that care

isn't ordinary,

it's rare.

So I let it slip,

thinking he would always stay.

But love never waits

for the ungrateful.

He left,

not with anger,

but with a silence sharp enough

to slice through my arrogance.

He loved someone else,

and suddenly I learned

what loss tastes like

not fire , not thunder,

but like a song that stops midway,

and your lips still move to words

that no longer exist.

I tried to outrun it,

falling into arms that felt

more like bandages than love.

But healing borrowed from strangers

never lasts,

and soon, I was back to the silence

he once filled.

Then came the return.

Not as mine,

not with love,

but with wit, laughter,

and the cruel kindness of friendship.

We would talk till dawn,

about nothing, about everything,

the absurd, the philosophical,

the kind of conversations

that stitched themselves into memory.

I would scold him to sleep early,

while knowing too well

I was the reason his nights

forgot how to end.

And in that mess,

it felt like home.

The little lies,

the random pings,

the warmth hidden inside sarcasm

all of it so dangerously cozy,

as if the universe had designed him

just to fit me.

I was nineteen then,

I am twenty-five now.

And yet,with him,

time folds in half.

The same thrill,

the same comfort,

the same illusion

that he was made for me.

And yes, like a fool,

I fell again

not just for him,

but for the gravity of us,

the way even distance bent itself

to keep him close.

And maybe I should laugh at myself here

who else but me would fall twice

for the same unfinished story,

scribble heartache into verses,

and call it poetry instead of proof

that I never learn?

Now we are "just friends"

The safest lie ever invented.

Call it love,

call it stupidity,

call it gravity dressed as longing.

And so I keep carving him into verses,

half confession, half comedy,

as if words could rewrite a past

I was too careless to hold.

Damn me...

the girl who thought care was ordinary,

who didn’t grab his sleeve

before he walked away.

Now I stitch poems like apologies,

hoping he will read between the lines,

hoping he will see,

this time I know what it means,

this time I know what it costs

to lose someone twice

and still call it fate,

when really, it was me.

All I know is

he was the lesson,

he is the echo,

and maybe I will always be

the girl who mocks herself

while secretly writing poems

about the same man…

twice.

The Anatomy of Inequality.

I didn’t come across this thought while reading a manifesto or watching some posh panel discussion. It came to me in the simplest, most insanely ridiculous way...by standing between two hospitals.

Literally adjacent to each other. Same road. Same air. Likely, they are even the same birds that are flying overhead. 🙆

On one side of the road 🛣️ a fancy glass hospital stands, a five-star resort more than a health centre. An illness here feels your wallet before taking your vitals 💳❤️. The parking lot? A luxury car lineup 🚗💸. Step inside, and there are machines that make espresso ☕️, air-conditioning colder than their souls, and nurses smile as if they were customer service agents 😷🙂..here patients aren’t just treated..they are pampered.

Across the road? 🛣️ A government hospital..overcrowded, falling apart, and smelling like every Indian’s worst memory of a hospital visit. Rust on stretchers, files piled like lost hopes and a silence that says, “Don’t expect too much.” Here, the patient isn’t sick they are powerless. Dignity doesn’t walk these halls. It gave up..just like the system did.👾

That moment made me feel like I was standing between two Indias.... not metaphorically, literally.💬

Because here, in this beautiful democratic country of ours, health isn’t a right. It’s a transaction.💰💸

👀Ever heard of UPSC, NEET, or JEE? Or better yet..have you ever tried escaping a dinner table conversation without someone proudly announcing their cousin’s neighbour’s son cracked it on the first attempt👼 with one eye closed and three pens? Or been subtly told by a family member, “Beta, bas ek baar clear kar lo, phir zindagi set hai”? As if we are all broken IKEA furniture just waiting to be ‘set.’👎

Ever been spiritually assaulted by those coaching ads where everyone looks like they just discovered the meaning of life after solving a math problem?📈 Or locked yourself in a room with ten coaching books, three highlighters, and a bucket full of panic because society said this is the only way to prove your worth?✊

Been there. Did that. I myself wrote these exams, failed spectacularly in some, cried over marks, questioned my worth..but here 💃I am, thriving in my own chaotic little way, still trying to survive without turning into a sob story stage.💭💥

💆This post isn’t a therapy session disguised as a blog or glorifying failure or demonizing success, it's about unmasking the absurd pedestal we have put national entrance exams on. Because let’s face it..we have all been there. Questioning our brain cells, dodging WhatsApp relatives, and dealing with a society that thinks success comes from isolation and inhaling oxygen only after AIR 1.😯

👉The Great Insecurity Scam

From the moment we learn how to spell our own names, we are told these exams are the ultimate test of our existence. Whether it's NEET, JEE, or UPSC apparently, nothing else validates our intelligence. And suddenly, the world around us becomes a live version of Shark Tank, except everyone is pitching unsolicited advice.😬

So what do we do? We isolate like we are prepping for a zombie apocalypse. Eat, study, cry, repeat. Because how dare we have hobbies or personalities when our future is at stake?👾

🏁But here is the twisted irony: when we finally escape the academic dungeon, we can’t hold conversations. We flinch at eye contact. We don’t know how to talk about anything other than marks, and we realize we trained ourselves to solve OMR sheets, not actual life. We were told to shut the world out, and now we don’t know how to live in it.👊

👉Marks: The New Zodiac Sign

Let’s be honest: these exams aren’t just tough..they are emotionally savage. You start equating your intelligence with your scores, your self-worth with your rank, and your future with one result. Suddenly, your life is brought to you by Anxiety & Co.😖

You begin to believe you are not good enough. Maybe everyone else is smarter, faster, better prepared. Imposter syndrome becomes your emotional roommate. You stop learning for joy and start surviving for validation.💫

🙇🙋And yes, I felt that too. Still do, sometimes. Its hard not to,when the world treats failure like a character flaw..Because apparently, if you fail at an exam, you are not just wrong..you are broken. But spoiler alert:- you are not.💪

👉Psychological Jab at This Exam Stress

👀Coaching Centres Before Puberty = Emotional Malnutrition

If you joined coaching before your body even figured out what hormones are, congrats..you probably skipped not just school fun but also basic personality development.🌈

👐When you stop hanging out with real people and start bonding with syllabus PDFs, its not “being ahead of your peers.” It’s early-onset social starvation. Later in life, when someone flirts with you and you reply with NEET cutoffs, don’t blame destiny. Blame your biology teacher.👵

👀 Your Rank Is Not Your Blood Group. Stop Acting Like It Is.

Treating your rank like it’s your life support? Classic case of obsessive identity disorder (okay, not a real DSM term, but let’s roll with it).

You start thinking:

👽 “No AIR, no future.”

“If I am not in top 100, I am basically a waste of carbon.”

Sweetheart, your self-worth isn’t a rank list. You are not a Wi-Fi signal. It’s okay if you are not at full bars all the time.🙇

👀Emotional Repression Olympics

Cramming 18 chapters a day but can’t express how you feel? Welcome to emotion suppression 101.

You have been told:

“Crying is weakness.”😕

“Laughing is distraction.”💀

“Taking breaks is for failures.”😢

Enter: Alexithymia...the inability to identify or express emotions. Most aspirants walk around emotionally constipated, unable to vent, laugh, or just feel something beyond syllabus-related guilt. And then we wonder why we are all emotionally burnt out by 19?

Let your emotions exist. Cry over an episode of Modern Family. It’s still healthier than blacking out over your 58th failed mock test.

👀 Identity Crisis Dressed as Discipline

Ever heard of identity foreclosure? It’s when you commit to a life path before exploring other possibilities. Like when your whole personality becomes “future doctor” or "next IAS"..when you have never:

💃Danced badly at school functions

💑Flirted without guilt

💫Written a poem that sucked and laughed at it

Instead, you became a walking syllabus with a name. But life needs spice, not just bullet points. Explore more before you declare who you are. Your life isn't a fixed deposit..it can and should evolve.👑

👀 You’re Not Lazy, You’re Burnt Out. There’s a Difference.

Feeling tired even after doing nothing? That’s not “procrastination,” babe. That’s chronic burnout.

Your brain has been running a marathon in the name of discipline. No sleep, no joy, no dopamine. You are not lazy..you are dopamine-deprived.👈

It's not a productivity issue. It’s your brain waving a white flag with, “Boss, I need one nap, one hug, and a cupcake.”🎂

👀Sleep Disorders, Panic Cycles & Dopamine Starvation

or as I call it: “The Starter Pack of Every Competitive Exam Zombie”👻

So you are pulling all-nighters fuelled by Red Bull, two hours of guilt, and one dream of an IIT tag? Babe, that’s not discipline..it’s circadian rhythm disruption served with a side of dopamine dysregulation.

Your body starts glitching, your brain files for early retirement, and suddenly “I can’t do this” becomes your background music. You tell yourself, just one quick scroll on Instagram and next thing you know, you are in a digital blackhole comparing your Chapter 5 stress to someone’s Bali vacation post with “#manifestingpeace.”🙊

That, my dear overachiever, is digital dissociation. But don’t worry, your syllabus doesn’t cover it..so society pretends it’s not real.😐

And panic cycles? Oh, those are fun. You mess up one test, and your brain hosts a TED Talk at 2 a.m. titled: “How I’ll Ruin My Entire Life Because I Forgot a Formula.”

Final Words From Your Inner Psychologist:💁

No exam rank is worth chronic fatigue, mental fog, or the fact that you don’t recognize yourself in the mirror anymore.Your neurons aren’t machines. They need sleep, serotonin, and a damn break. So shut the books, breathe, and for once..let your brain exist without a to-do list.

And for god’s sake, remember you are a human first, aspirant second.

👉Flip the Script: Thrive, Don’t Just Survive

These exams are part of the system, not the syllabus of your soul. Stop giving them the God-tier status of defining your identity. Whether you crack them or not, you are still allowed to dream, grow, and glow (with or without sunscreen).

Let’s change the narrative--from marksheets to memoirs, from shame to stories.

Sanity Hacks for the Exam-Haunted

1. Burn the Pedestal, Not Your Brain💥

These exams are tests, not a spiritual evaluation. They won’t tell you if you are kind, creative, or capable of starting a startup that sells anxiety-themed merch. Stop praying at the altar of ranks.

2. Interact, Don’t Hibernate💤

Locking yourself up might boost your syllabus completion, but it kills your social immunity. Life isn't just about tests..it's about texting too.Roger Federer didn’t isolate himself into greatness..he dabbled in other sports before tennis. Arnold Schwarzenegger: from lifting weights to lifting votes as Governor. Lisa Kudrow was a biology nerd before becoming Phoebe Buffay.

Want desi spice? Look at Ritesh Agarwal (OYO) who started young, failed a few times, and built an empire by talking to actual people and not just PDFs. Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw trained to be a brewmaster but ended up founding Biocon. Even Varun Agarwal went from engineering pressure to authoring “How I Braved Anu Aunty and Co-Founded a Million Dollar Company.” They didn’t isolate..they innovated through interaction.

3. Build Your Backstory, Not Just Your Bio Data😎

Stop narrating your life like an attendance sheet. “Woke up. Studied. Slept.” No. Talk about the weird poem you wrote. The time you questioned capitalism over chai. Your story..“I didn’t crack it, but I became this”--will always slap harder than AIR 1.

4. Learn Beyond the Syllabus💬

Take a break from memorizing the Constitution and try learning how to set boundaries. Learn to say “No.” Learn to budget. Learn to walk into a room without crumbling into a ball of nerves. Life won’t ask you the difference between mitosis and meiosis..but it will test your ability to send one good email.

5. Surround Yourself with Sanity (and Me)💃

If your group chat gives you ulcers, ditch it. Find your tribe...the weird, the woke, the wonderfully unbothered. And yes, add me. I talk about everything: from “how’s your poop today?” to reviews on The Royals (Ishaan Khatter supremacy, forever). I will overthink with you, decode toxic patterns, rate your pani puri vendor, and write existential poetry over Maggi. We are not meant to do this alone.

6. Let Chaos Sit at the Table🙆

Some days, you will nail it. Some days, you will cry over a spilled milk. Allow both. Life isn’t a graph..it’s a zigzag doodle drawn by a stressed artist. Embrace the squiggles.

7. Life First. Labels Later.👌

Hug your dog. Make terrible Maggi. Paint something ugly. Text a friend. Walk barefoot. Hug your sibling..like I do with my sister, who listens to all my love drama like it’s a Netflix original, gives better advice than any therapist, and still tolerates my 3AM rants. Life happens in between questions..and those bits? They are worth everything.

Life doesn’t care about what’s printed on your admit card..it cares how you feel when you are with yourself.

👉Dear Rank-Obsessed World: We’re Not Furniture to Be “Set”

If I can fail, cry, fall, and still wake up to write this..so can all of us. Let’s stop acting like our whole personality is tied to a six-digit score.

These exams can check how well we memorize..but they can’t measure how hard we fought to stay sane, how much we dream, or how deeply we care.

So own your mess. Flaunt your learning curves. Be the main character in your chaos.

Because we are not marksheets. We are manuscripts. Still messy, still in draft..but definitely not done.

And this?? This is just a chapter, not the conclusion.💫

- Written with caffeine and a mild existential crisis by Sameeksha..still broke, a little bruised, but burning bright with Mandate and Muse.

Delete For Everyone

I sent it...

Just a “hey.”

Strange..how three letters

Can feel like one confession

Wrapped in regret.

Like somehow, somewhere

This fragment of word could reach

Across the mess I made,

Back to the version of you

Who used to love me.

But the moment I hit send,

Reality hit back harder.

You did love me once.

God, you did.

You loved me with everything

I didn’t know how to handle.

And I took it for granted,

Played it cool,

Acted like you would always be there...

Like I had time

To figure out how to love you back

Without fear,

Without running.

But I was wrong.

Turns out, love has limits.

Even yours.

And I pushed mine

Until you finally

Just let go.

You left,

And I didn’t blame you...

I blamed myself.

And now,

After all this time,

I had the audacity

To send you a “hey.”

Like that’s not ridiculous.

In that one minute

Between “sent” and “seen.”

That’s all it took

For a thousand thoughts

To slap me in the face.

What if you see it

And feel nothing?

Or worse...

What if it hurts

To see my name again?

What if it pulls you

Back to that place

You swore you would never visit?

The place where you

Used to love me

Before I showed you

All the reasons you shouldn’t.

And maybe you are holding your phone

Right now,

Staring at the screen,

Wondering why I couldn’t

Just let you be...

Why I had to barge in

With this pointless message

When you have worked so hard

To move on.

Maybe you are shaking your head,

Thinking how typical...

Still reckless,

Still selfish,

Still me.

And maybe it doesn’t matter now.

Maybe you have already

Found someone else..

Someone who didn’t make

Loving you

Feel like a mistake.

Someone who didn’t have

A habit of running

When things got real.

Someone who knows how to hold on

Instead of letting go.

And here I am,

Showing up at your doorstep

With a useless “hey”

That can’t undo

The mess I made.

It hits me...

This is stupid.

I am not supposed to be

Part of your life anymore.

I lost that privilege

When I let you walk away.

So, I press it....

Delete for everyone.

Because it’s pointless,

Because it’s selfish,

Because it’s too late.

And it’s funny, really,

How deleting a message

Doesn’t delete the regret.

Delete for everyone...

But not for me.

Because no matter

How many times I try,

I can’t erase

The reality

That I ruined

The best thing

I ever had.

And I can’t blame you

For not wanting

To read a word

From the girl

Who broke

What you once called love.

Delete for everyone....

But I am still here,

Sitting with the truth

That it was never

Just a “hey.”

It was everything

I couldn’t say

When you were still

Willing to listen.

Delete for everyone...

But the guilt stays mine.

Because I had your love,

And left it behind.

Fiance?? Finance? Let’s Fix One First.

💃Hi, I am Sameeksha...professionally broke in both love and finance...and here while the world around me seems busy making fiancés, here I am struggling to even spell fiancé correctly. So I have decided to leave that romantic tragedy on “read” and focus on fixing my finance instead. After all, there's only an 'n' separating me from a better bank balance...soo let’s fix the finance part first. As for the fiance part, I will need an English class first and then maybe I will finally gather the courage to make one.😑

Well my fellow broke souls hold hands (digitally, of course) and walk this bumpy road of financial literacy together, because misery loves company and so does money!✊

💥Classic Saving Strategies (The Good Old Reliable Friends):-

🌈 PPF (Public Provident Fund)

Think of this as a relationship with your future self. You invest your money in a PPF account for 15 years, the government showers it with tax-free interest, and you come out richer, older, and hopefully wiser. It's basically a long-distance relationship with your own money, and the returns are totally worth the wait.

🌈 EPF (Employees’ Provident Fund)

Your salary's quiet side hustle. A portion of your monthly salary is whisked away before you can even miss it, matched by your employer, and tucked away until retirement. Future-you will send you a thank-you note.

🌈 SIP (Systematic Investment Plan)

SIPs are the gym subscription for your money. Small, regular investments in mutual funds, and if you stay consistent, you end up financially fit. The sooner you start, the fatter the wallet.. because here is where the real magic happens :- Compounding..

In plain English: compounding is like earning interest on your interest, and then earning interest on that interest, and then... well, you get the idea. It’s basically your money dating more money, and their kids bringing in even more money. A full-on family reunion of cash, if you stay patient.

The trick? Start early and let time do the heavy lifting. Because honestly, your ₹500 today might look small, but give it a few years and it’ll be flexing in your account like it just hit the financial gym..

🌈 Fixed Deposits (FD)

The “Grandma” of savings. Park your money, forget about it, and watch it grow at a steady, predictable pace. Not flashy, but trustworthy.

🌈 Recurring Deposit (RD)

Think of this like a re monthly EMI to your future bank account. You commit a fixed sum every month and the bank rewards your loyalty with interest.

🌈 Liquid Funds

For the commitment-phobic. Want slightly better returns than a savings account but still be able to withdraw when needed? Liquid funds are your go-to, especially when you don't want your money to sit idle but aren’t ready to lock it up either.

💥Modern Day Saving Strategies (Because We're Not Cavemen):-

👌 NiyoX

A modern digital savings platform that gives you higher interest rates than your lazy old savings account, paired with no-maintenance charges and swanky app features. Because your money deserves to be both smart and stylish.

👌 Fi Money

Think of Fi as your tech-savvy buddy who tracks your expenses and savings while you scroll memes. They offer flexible savings plans, rewards, and insights into where your salary actually disappears.

💥 How Instagram Highlights Are Stabbing Your Wallet (And How to Stop the Bleeding):-

😕Why we fall for it:

You open Instagram.

Someone’s on a Maldives trip.

Your bank balance says ‘Mal’ while the ‘dives’ part has already drowned.

😎How to deal with it:

Unfollow people who vacation more than they breathe.

Accept this golden truth: Social media shows their vacations, not their credit card bills. (Thanks to Broke Millennial for that gem.)

Before you swipe your card or book that trip, ask yourself: “Am I earning for me or for my Insta followers?”

Chill at home, sip some coffee (from your own kitchen), and let your future bank balance thank you.

💥Books That Changed My Wallet (And Life):-

📚Broke Millennial by Erin Lowry

A brutally honest, hilarious guide that’ll stop you from treating your salary like a Netflix subscription: spent before you even notice.

📚Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki

The classic. A reality check between working for money and making money work for you.

Sameeksha’s Note: Read both, but only after finishing this blog, or I will haunt your financial dreams!👊👻

💥Schematic Plan: ₹30,000 Salary - Broke Soul Edition:-

Let’s break it down:

50% Needs (₹15,000) – Rent, groceries, bills, and basic survival.🍲🏡

30% Wants (₹9,000) – Occasional Starbucks, Netflix, birthday gifts for people you don’t even like.🎂🥮

20% Savings (₹6,000) –

👉 ₹2,000 SIP.⭐

👉 ₹2,000 PPF.👼

👉 ₹1,000 Liquid Fund or RD.🪪

👉 ₹1,000 Sovereign Gold Bond or Index Mutual Fund.🪙

Future You: If you save ₹6,000 monthly via SIP at an assumed 12% return, you will have around ₹7.2 Lakh in 7 years. Future You can finally afford that Maldives trip..with cash, not EMIs.🏖

💥When To Take The Leap: Savings Vs Investments:-

The other day, I had the longest debate with someone who said: “Old-fashioned saving to get rich is slow, you need to earn more to get rich.”💁

And as always, we were standing at opposite poles. If they say right, I will point left..they say north, I am already packing for south..that’s just the natural law of our conversations... Harmony?? Well never heard of that word..

So what I said:-

Invest in stocks and high-risk assets only when:

1. You have an emergency fund.

2. You have cleared high-interest debts.

3. Your classic savings are on auto-pilot.

4. You can handle the emotional rollercoaster (and not cry every time Sensex falls).

First, stabilize. Then gamble

💥 In Conclusion: Finance over Fiancé (For Now):-

Look, managing money isn’t about being rich. It’s about being wise. Your future self will either thank you or haunt you depending on what you do after reading this. So, start slow, be consistent, and for heaven’s sake, don’t let Instagram stories decide your financial worth.

Fiancé can wait. Finance shouldn’t.💢💬

Well here me..👀

Broke in love, broke in cash,

Broke in luck.. life’s a crash.

Woke in wisdom, fixing all the rest,

But love? Yeah, that’s my unpaid test.💔

Until next time, broke but learning ---) Sameeksha.

Breaking News, Broken Ethics

💥“Breaking: Actor’s dog gets a haircut. Meanwhile, Parliament passes a bill that will impact 600 million lives. But first..let's go live to the dog.” 💥

Hi, I’m Sameeksha..your usual heartbreak-dissecting, social chaos-mapping, poetic rebel.And well, until now, I was gently emotional-baiting everyone with poems, sad eyes, and subtle existential truths…Just so I could finally sneak in my favorite category: politics.

Yes. I love politics. Passionately. Loudly. Unapologetically.

I just hate how people pretend it’s boring. Like hello? This is the most high-stakes drama in the country. Real lives, real consequences, real villains and yet, it gets less hype than a celebrity’s relationship status.Why? Because journalism has made it fashionable to focus on fluff.

We now live in a country where name-changing ceremonies are treated as national milestones..where the renaming of cities, railway stations, and ancient buildings takes more airtime than policies that directly affect your job, food, or education.

It’s not that people don’t care. It’s that they have been trained not to.

Trained to clap for drama.

To obsess over fake narratives

To ignore consequences.

And if politics is the drama, journalism is the production crew that decided it’s more profitable to shoot a fashion reel than show a famine.

💁From Prime time to Prime sham.

Today, politics isn’t reported- it’s choreographed...Journalism today is like that one Indian serial that never ends..full of overacting, background music, and prime-time warriors aren’t journalists. They are full-blown masala distributors, complete with:

👀 Volume levels that could shatter glass at 100 decibels,

👀 Eyebrow raises that can give Ekta Kapoor a complex,

👀 And a patriotic tone so forced it makes national anthems look subtle.

Forget journalism. We have entered the bootlicking multiverse, where:-

👌 The ruling party is always right,

👊 The opposition is anti-national by default,

☝ And anyone asking real questions is either in jail, in court, or in a YouTube comment section screaming into the void

💁We Don’t Care About Politics - Until It Hits Home

Ohh yes, the Gen Z and millennials who proudly say,

“I don’t care about politics.”

Sweetheart, politics cares about you. And it’s about to slide into your DMs with:

👉A college fee hike you never saw coming

👉Electricity bills that could power a small planet

👉National-level exam scams that decide your future

👉Taxes on your packet of instant noodles

👉Sudden job losses, frozen scholarships or rebranded ration schemes

💁The Unbought ,The Unbowed.

Let’s talk about those who dared to report the truth:

⭐Ravish Kumar, who walked away from a sold-out newsroom and now continues his sharp, fearless journalism..mic in one hand, integrity in the other.

⭐Siddique Kappan, arrested for trying to report on a gang rape case in Hathras- treated like a criminal, not a journalist.

⭐ Paranjoy Guha Thakurta, hounded with multiple defamation cases for exposing corporate-government nexus.

⭐ Gauri Lankesh, who spoke truth to power and was silenced permanently. A journalist murdered not for misinformation, but for being too informed.

⭐Abhisar Sharma, Arfa Khanum Sherwani, Rana Ayyub..trolled, surveilled, even banned from flying. Why? Because they refused to kneel.

They didn't get prime-time slots.

They got raids, court summons, spyware, frozen bank accounts and a flood of silence from those who once claimed to support free speech.

Yet- they still speak.

They write.

They publish.

For truth, for justice, and for the India that still believes in democracy with spine..not

posture.

💁Mandate and Muse Verdict:---

How to Detox from Propaganda.

1. Stop consuming noise like news :-

✊If the anchor screams more than your ex, it’s not journalism..it’s performance art. Exit.

2. Support platforms that support truth:-

🎤Journalism needs funding, not forwarding. Buy subscriptions. Donate. Share real stories.

The Alternative? Independent Journalism That Doesn't Need a Sponsor’s Script

Well, I personally love to follow the ones who still dare to write, speak, and question when everyone else is just busy clapping..These aren’t just platforms..they are sanity in the middle of noise, a flashlight when mainstream switches off the lights.

✔ THE WIRE – Sharp, bold, and allergic to power worship. If facts had a fortress, it would look like this.

✔ NEWSLAUNDRY – “Pay to keep news free” isn’t a slogan..it’s a rebellion. They roast the media while being media.

✔ARTICLE 14 – For when you want journalism that knows what the Constitution actually says and isn’t just using it as wall art.

✔ SCROLL , THE CARAVAN, MOJO STORY(BARKHA DUTTA) – Each one fighting its own war against the monster of manufactured consent. No filters. No fluff. Just journalism.

✔ RAVISH KUMAR – My personal favorite. It's like the news had a spine again. Calm, factual, piercing and everything your prime-time panel isn't.

✔DHRUV RATHEE – Explains it like you are five, but makes you feel like you have got a PhD in politics.

✔ AKASH BANERJEE ( THE DESHBHAKT) – Roasts hate, explains chaos, and makes satire feel like civic duty.

😎{ PS: I have linked those journalism platforms above ... yes, they are clickable and no, they won’t bite. Go on, subscribe, scroll, and maybe read something that wasn’t designed to rot your brain. Because if you are still trusting TV debates for facts… darling, you need this more than you know..}

These journalists don’t chase clout..they chase clarity. They don’t want your clicks..they want your conscience.💭

They are not just my sources..they are my reminders that journalism, even now, still has a pulse.You just have to know where to place your finger.

3. Educate yourself before elections:-

📢 Don’t vote based on slogans. Vote based on policies. Or don’t complain when the circus sets up in your backyard.

4. Teach media literacy to your family:-

🙎Yes, even that one uncle who sends “Modiji did this” forwards at 7 AM. They can be saved. We believe.

5. Call out lazy journalism:-

☝Don’t stay silent when someone justifies hate in the name of “debate.” Turn off the channel. Tweet your disgust. Your attention is currency..spend it wisely.

6. And never forget:–

👀Some journalists may have knelt, but some still roar. They are underfunded, trolled, raided but they write, speak, and record because they believe democracy isn’t a TRP game.

And this gem right here?

{ The death of Indian journalism }

Click this before the algorithm buries it under celebrity lip-syncs..it’s honestly the best explanation of how we went from journalism with guts to journalism with government-approved gloss.💁

💁Broadcaste of Sense.

Every scroll through influencer drama is one scroll away from real democracy dying softly in the background.

The world doesn't change because you posted a reel with lo-fi music. It changes when you know where your taxes go, when you vote with context, and when you stop confusing news with celebrity trivia.💃

So next time, instead of panicking about Instagram likes, panic about policy hikes.

Swap GRWM for GRWY: Get Ready With Your Voter ID.🪪

Mainstream media won’t save you. They already sold their soul for screen time.📲

But hey..don’t lose hope. You have got access to the truth if you want it. You just need to scroll a little further than your usual meme page.

You are the mandate. You are the muse. You are the movement. But only if you unplug, unlearn, and unmute.

Start now.

- Written by Sameeksha

(Just your average girl with below-average Wi-Fi and a spine so upright, even lordosis files a complaint.I don’t have a press badge or a blue tick..just an eye for bullshit, a pen that bites and a refusal to clap for clowns in power suits.No godfather. No god complex. Just guts, Google and a grudge against lazy journalism.)