I started writing online in 2004, when blogs were still personal corners of the internet. Now I write about small moments that reveal who we become while we are busy being everything else.
– Ankita Bhatia Dhawan
New Here? Start with these
Still Not Journalling
I thought I disliked journaling because I don’t do well with prompts. Then I realised the problem was not the blank page. It was what the blank page might reveal.
The Real Girl Math
We joke about girl math as if the strangest female calculation is justifying a handbag on sale. But the real girl math is the everyday arithmetic of safety: what to wear, which route to take, where to sit, who to call, and how much of yourself to make visible.
Mothers, Mistakes, and the Myth of Perfection
We placed mothers on pedestals and called it respect, without noticing how quickly admiration turns into expectation. The moment women become symbols of sacrifice and strength, they stop being allowed complexity, mistakes, exhaustion, anger, ambition, or even ordinary humanity.
Hi, I’m Ankita.
I have been a marketer, a mother, a reader, a reluctant organiser of school mornings, an expat, a woman rebuilding parts of herself in more than one country, and someone who still processes life best by writing it down.
This blog comes from that mix. Work. Motherhood. Memory. Books. Beauty counters. Airports. Irritations that refuse to stay small. The things women inherit without being handed a manual. Most posts begin with something ordinary. Then the ordinary misbehaves.
Stories about Ordinary Life
Still Not Journalling
I thought I disliked journaling because I don’t do well with prompts. Then I realised the problem was not the blank page. It was what the blank page might reveal.
We Could Have Been Gen Y
We could have been Gen Y. Instead, we became millennials: the generation that remembers landlines and floppy disks, but somehow also has to manage passwords, updates, and overflowing cloud storage.
What The A to Z Challenge Taught Me About Storytelling
I started the A to Z Challenge thinking I had chosen storytelling as a theme. Twenty-six posts later, I realised I had been writing about people, survival, identity, discomfort, and the stories we tell ourselves to keep going.
The Girl With One Braid
Sakshi was the villain long before she left for Denmark. One braid, one book, one bus ride, one refusal at a time, she became the girl who put ideas in other girls’ heads. Sakshi owns the reputation she never asked for and the life she chose anyway.
The Real Girl Math
We joke about girl math as if the strangest female calculation is justifying a handbag on sale. But the real girl math is the everyday arithmetic of safety: what to wear, which route to take, where to sit, who to call, and how much of yourself to make visible.
Mothers, Mistakes, and the Myth of Perfection
We placed mothers on pedestals and called it respect, without noticing how quickly admiration turns into expectation. The moment women become symbols of sacrifice and strength, they stop being allowed complexity, mistakes, exhaustion, anger, ambition, or even ordinary humanity.
Mothers, Mistakes, and the Myth of Perfection
We placed mothers on pedestals and called it respect, without noticing how quickly admiration turns into expectation. The moment women become symbols of sacrifice and strength, they stop being allowed complexity, mistakes, exhaustion, anger, ambition, or even ordinary humanity.
Naming a Baby, the Corporate Way
We approached a baby name like a boardroom decision. The unlikely seriousness of naming a child, and the strangely human logic behind it.
But… those are Boys’ shoes! – A Gender Neutral Parenting Story #Fail
“But those are boys’ shoes”, said the helpful store clerk to me last evening and I wanted to punch him. Thankfully, I had my mask on, so I gritted my teeth, smiled and asked, “Does it matter? Please get these in her size” We didn’t get those shoes ultimately and yesterday was a Gender Neutral Parenting Failure. Why am I…
I Let AI Describe Me. Then I Had to Do It Myself.
I asked ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini what kind of person I am. They knew the documented me: the prompts, drafts, edits, searches, and patterns. But the missing parts were more revealing.
Taste: The Stories We Tell Ourselves About What We Like
Taste feels personal, almost instinctive. But food, clothes, homes, and even the sarees that break our own rules often carry older stories of availability, repetition, culture, aspiration, and the small choices that slowly become a self.
Posture: The Stories Our Bodies Tell
You think you’re noticing a person.
The clothes, the walk, the outline of a stranger moving through an ordinary evening.
But sometimes what you’re really noticing is a pattern your body already knows.
How to move without interrupting.
How to shrink just enough.
How to stay within the edges of space without ever testing where they actually are.
And once that recognition clicks, it’s hard to…
My Personal Favourites
Some posts I call my favourites. They are the ones that may hit the hardest. Sometimes, they are the ones that make me smile the widest. Sometimes, the ones that came from the gut. And sometimes, the ones my readers loved.
The Girl With One Braid
Sakshi was the villain long before she left for Denmark. One braid, one book, one bus ride, one refusal at a time, she became the girl who put ideas in other girls’ heads. Sakshi owns the reputation she never asked for and the life she chose anyway.
A Morning of Doubt
Some mornings are too busy for anxiety. Packing lunches, tying hair, watching the clock. But when the house finally falls quiet, the mind sometimes catches up with everything it has been avoiding.
What It Actually Means to Be a Woman Today
Women’s Day often celebrates a polished version of womanhood. This post looks at the everyday reality behind it: invisible work, mental load, quiet negotiations and the expectations women carry without applause. Everything that shapes what it means to be a woman today.
Not By The Hair of My Chiny Chin Chin
A funny, honest look at chin hair after 40.
Why it happens, and how it feels when you’ve lived it.
A to Z Storytelling Series
I chose storytelling as the theme because I kept noticing how much of our everyday behaviour is shaped by the stories we tell. We repeat them so often they stop feeling like stories and start feeling like truth. We tell them because they help us live.
What The A to Z Challenge Taught Me About Storytelling
I started the A to Z Challenge thinking I had chosen storytelling as a theme. Twenty-six posts later, I realised I had been writing about people, survival, identity, discomfort, and the stories we tell ourselves to keep going.
Zero: The Stories We Tell About Starting Over
We call it a fresh start, a new chapter, ground zero. But sometimes the story of starting over is less about becoming someone new, and more about finding the courage to begin while carrying everything we always carry.
Yes: The Stories We Tell When We Have No Choice
Sometimes, Yes doesn’t arrive as a decision. It arrives as duty, peacekeeping, family expectation, and survival. Then, years later, we call it “how things went” because that is easier to live with.
Most Recent Posts
Still Not Journalling
I thought I disliked journaling because I don’t do well with prompts. Then I realised the problem was not the blank page. It was what the blank page might reveal.
We Could Have Been Gen Y
We could have been Gen Y. Instead, we became millennials: the generation that remembers landlines and floppy disks, but somehow also has to manage passwords, updates, and overflowing cloud storage.
I Let AI Describe Me. Then I Had to Do It Myself.
I asked ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini what kind of person I am. They knew the documented me: the prompts, drafts, edits, searches, and patterns. But the missing parts were more revealing.
The Girl With One Braid
Sakshi was the villain long before she left for Denmark. One braid, one book, one bus ride, one refusal at a time, she became the girl who put ideas in other girls’ heads. Sakshi owns the reputation she never asked for and the life she chose anyway.
The Real Girl Math
We joke about girl math as if the strangest female calculation is justifying a handbag on sale. But the real girl math is the everyday arithmetic of safety: what to wear, which route to take, where to sit, who to call, and how much of yourself to make visible.
Ruskin Bond and the Art of Quiet Storytelling
I first met Ruskin Bond in a Standard 10 English classroom, through a boy, his grandfather, and three cherries. Years later, I understand why that moment stayed. His stories taught me that quiet writing is never small. It notices ordinary people, simple moments, and everyday details until they become unforgettable.
Mothers, Mistakes, and the Myth of Perfection
We placed mothers on pedestals and called it respect, without noticing how quickly admiration turns into expectation. The moment women become symbols of sacrifice and strength, they stop being allowed complexity, mistakes, exhaustion, anger, ambition, or even ordinary humanity.
What The A to Z Challenge Taught Me About Storytelling
I started the A to Z Challenge thinking I had chosen storytelling as a theme. Twenty-six posts later, I realised I had been writing about people, survival, identity, discomfort, and the stories we tell ourselves to keep going.