Safe streets, unsafe homes

Even as we live through an uncertain world, more people are feeling safer in their communities. However, even in this, the gender gap hetween men and women continues to yawn

- SHUTAPA PAUL

15 years ago, asa young, underpaid and overworked beat reporter, I probably looked harrowed almost all the time.

A seriously ailing father made a grim existence seem even more serious. During that time when life seemed anything but in technicolour, a senior colleague once remarked — “Life is lived between vacations’. Not only did those words stay with me, but as soon as I was financially able, I started acting upon this aspiration. Every year, I would plan an annual break, and within a few months of completing it, Td set about preparing for the next one. The excitement, the buildup, that ‘something to look forward to’ kept me motivated the whole year. Holidays, no matter how grand or humble, have always kept me going. Those breaks have added meaning to my daily rigmarole, the endless duties, and life’s many unwanted responsibilities. ‘Travelling to new places, soaking in different cultures, food, music, and history is the gift I give myself while virtually patting my back, and silently telling myself, “you deserve this”. With professional growth and ease of global travel, local trips became foreign ones. And like clockwork, with the onset of Indian monsoons every year, my heart would yearn, and plans for the next annual break would be afoot. Not this year, though.