In one gut-wrenching moment in the documentary “Cuba with a Cameraman” a little Cuban girl of about 4 in New York gets to go to see her grandmother in for the first time in her life. The girl’s mother breaks down in tears of joy on reuniting with her mother in Cuba.

They were Cuban exiles whom Fidel Castro allowed returning to the country for a visit.

I am a free woman.

Unlike a Cuban exile, I can go home whenever I want. But there is a catch. I can’t.

When I see my German friends visit home for Christmas…

What if all your dreams come true?

What if you considered yourself a “commoner”, and one day you are shot to fame, and the world realizes that you are a star?

This is the story of Manasa Varanasi, 23, crowned VLCC Femina Miss India 2020 this February.

Her cousin Advait Valluri is a friend and lives across the street from me. Advait and Manasa grew up together and talked regularly right until the night before her winning.

I followed this thread to see what Advait and his wife Sivani Saraswatula had to say about their sister’s sensational rise to fame.

…

The ratio of people who spin-off into a self-owned business to those who dream about doing it is notably tiny. The first and the most important question that stops one from getting off the floor is clearly — “What should I do?”.

In fact, as long as you are willing to “Do something about it”, says Viswatez Repakula, a self-made entrepreneur, you don’t have to look far to generate money by making the world a little more perfect.

Here the story of Viswatez, an Indian immigrant from Anantapuram, Andhra Pradesh to Stuttgart, Germany, and a Project Manager from Porsche AG…

As of today, nearly everyone has an internet content venture. Fame, glory, and “the next-level” are on almost everybody’s day-dreams — whether they speak it out loud or not.

thefunnyauslander, an Instagram page by an immigrant in Germany, made an appearance on German TV, a step most people would call making the “next-level”.

The creator wishes to remain anonymous (read on to know why). I will not get into details of his person.

Here is the story of thefunnyauslander — an Instagram channel making viral memes about immigrant life in Germany. …

If you are obsessed with “whys” — Why we do what we do, why we feel things, why we work, why we have a moral code, and why things are the way they are, there is a book you should read.

The answer to these questions is hard mostly because almost all theories in science and religion explain the Hows and the Whats.

The Why itself is a question buried in the meta. The answer could be in philosophy, in metaphysics, in evolutionary biology, or just plain acceptance.

In search of the why I found these relevant books which connect…

Close friends might accept you for how you are. No matter what your tastes in food, people, music, or movies, they will let you be.

Such a friendship only develops with time. No matter how much you “click” in the first meeting — real, deep, and honest friendships form only over years. There is no way around that long road.

As kids, conversation meant simply hurling the first thing that came to mind, and thankfully, it was accepted. Adulthood is harder. What kills off a budding friendship in adulthood is bad conversation.

Regardless of whether you want to make new…

I read anywhere between 30 and 50 books a year. I try to review them all on Goodreads.

The average of all ratings I gave on Goodreads is 4.22 out of 5. This is to say I am not one of those internet trolls screaming indirectly “It is unfair that you did something which I didn’t, I should be more famous”. The books I don’t enjoy reading, I would still rate high if they have a new thought, perspective, or interesting research.

If a book is a literary disaster but offers a nice perspective, I would still rate it well…