Sid Balachandran's Blog

Our phones buzz in synchronised patterns with New Year's greetings, Duolingo reminders, & notifications from the workout app that we downloaded in a burst of midnight optimism. Welcome to the shared human experience of trying, failing and trying again.

Think there's something about the festive period that makes us collectively lose our minds? I write about the annual ritual of Christmas shopping, where traffic gods must be appeased, Mariah Carey is inescapable, and shopping bags defy the laws of physics. Because nothing says 'peace on earth' quite like fighting over the last parking space...

I painstakingly wrote the perfect message to my 12-year-old: a masterpiece of modern parenting. Gentle reminders, life lessons, open-ended questions - I had it all. Hit send, feeling smug. Then came the reply that shattered my millennial ego.

Ditch the "30 Under 30" FOMO and embrace the JOMO (Joy of Missing Out) at 40. This is a celebration of mismatched socks, forgotten passwords, and the sweet relief of a 9 PM. bedtime. It's time to redefine success and embrace the perfectly imperfect reality of being 40 (and beyond!).

Friendship breakups often occur in silence - fading away without fanfare or closure. It’s like watching the disappearance of a shadow—quiet, almost unnoticeable until you find yourself reaching out into the emptiness where someone used to stand.

If you find yourself wide awake with the rest of the world fast asleep, welcome to the 3 AM Club. This is where the lines between rational thought and outright absurdity blur into existential questions and B-movie plotlines. Forget sleep, embrace the madness!

Welcome to the brave new world when our children are turning to AI for emotional support.

Paktika province, Afghanistan Sgt. James Faulder licked his dry, cracked lips as the bitter, cold mountain wind whistled through the rocky region. Though he had been on a number of risky operations previously, he was tensed. Probably because he knew what was at stake. The more he tried to calm down, the more rapidly he […]

A sudden jolt followed by a shooting pain across his right temple woke Farhan up. He looked around groggily trying to place where he was. The elderly gentleman sitting on his right flashed him a toothless smile, and mumbled something incomprehensible. Farhan gave him a confused look, and felt his sore temple. He could already […]

It is likely that when you read this, it may sound like parents from generations previous didn't really care much about kids. No, they did. But the evolution of parenting has made one thing clear. There’s a clear imbalance in the style of parenting these days.