I cosy up in my bed with a plate full of Mirchi Bhajji, bingeing on old cheesy DD series.

As an Indian, my idea of snacks is mostly from small roadside shops selling condiments and spicy chutneys, including the famous Mirchi Bhajji (fried chilli).

Why DD series ?

DD – here stands for Doordarshan, it was the only channel I had as I was growing up, so the memories attached to it are not just confined to viewing it, but the entire moments frozen in time, that had all our cousins, neighbours, especially the summer vacation days, where watching a regional movie on a weekend was a ritual in itself that too with subtitles and then those Hindi movies and mythological series, and then reenacting them as we cousins replayed those dramas as games!

While I like fried snacks, fried chillies (Mirchi Bhajji is my favourite), this is because both the snack and the old DD series fill me with nostalgia, of those cherished memories that fill my entire being with happiness and a good flow of all good chemicals that my brain and body need to rest and rejuvenate.

Nostalgia is the anti-stress go-to approach I savour today.

How did I learn about it?

I figured this out after long, intensive journaling and work on my inner self, so now I know when the body is exhausted, what it needs to replenish it.

The real approach to unwinding is to find out what actually brings that deep inner happiness inside you, and then keep practising it.

and stay prepared for the grind of life, which never seems to cease!

Warmly,

Mehnaz Amjad