In these times when everyone seems to be rushing past one another, speaking or texting on their phones, chasing deadlines and targets or caught up in the rat race with little or no time to spend with family and friends, the company of people—even if they are total strangers—can be a pleasant and unexpected change.   Picture this.   One evening, at a restaurant in Bandra, a group of people from mixed backgrounds and probably little in common arrive one by one and share a table with someone...

We all want to feel happy. We want joy in our everyday lives. But we often look for it in big moments, when it can be found in our simple, everyday routines. Luckily, there are plenty of ways to find joy even in small, ordinary things, and to hold on to it for as long as we like. While these ideas aren’t new, they remind us how we can live a happy life—and how much of our own happiness is in our hands. Make time to actually meet people,  which means stepping out of your comfort zones and...

There are days when nothing feels right—when things seem heavy, when we need a gentle nudge to remind us that hope and joy still exist. In those moments, we either want to be left alone, waiting for the feeling to pass, occasionally going for long, brisk walks to shake off the gloom, or we talk to close family and friends. And sometimes, we turn to books, movies and music. Books aside, movies can be like friends who step in with vivid characters and stories that make us laugh, cry, and feel...