When the Brain Hits Pause

For 28-year-old research scholar Ahalya Basu* (name changed), life has quietly dulled into a loop of repetition. "Every day feels the same. I wake up, attend to my research work, and tick off to-do lists, but I feel like I'm not living my life anymore. I just go through the motions; function on autopilot," she says.

- KONKANA RAY

For 28-year-old research scholar Ahalya Basu* (name changed), life has quietly dulled into a loop of repetition. "Every day feels the same. I wake up, attend to my research work, and tick off to-do lists, but I feel like I'm not living my life anymore. I just go through the motions; function on autopilot," she says. To the outside world, she's productive and composed. Internally, she describes herself as emotionally disengaged. For 35-year-old marketing executive Rohan Mehta*, life is a streamlined hustle. His days are filled with meetings, networking events, deadlines, and presentations. He works out regularly, has a buzzing social calendar, and is regarded as dependable and driven by colleagues, friends and family alike. Yet, in quieter moments, a strange hollowness creeps in. "Nothing excites me anymore. Not even the things that once made me feel alive," he says. The disconnect became noticeable after a series of personal losses—his father's sudden passing, followed by a painful breakup. "I'm not sad; just... switched off," Mehta sighs.