My Next Thought

Radical Gratitude: The Kind That Costs You Something Thanksgiving arrives like clockwork, wrapped in ritual and softness. We gather around tables, pass bowls, rehearse a script we all know by heart. We perform gratitude the way we perform small talk — politely, predictably, safely - a polite ritual we participate in so we don’t disrupt the…

I am an immigrant. Or maybe an expat. Or maybe the line between the two says more about power than identity. I came to America almost 34 years ago carrying a story that millions of young people still carry today — that the West is the land of unfiltered opportunity. I knew nothing of the shadows beneath…

The Sound of Nothing: What the 6-7 Craze Reveals About a Generation on Loop “6-7, I just bipped right on the highway (bip, bip) Skrrt… I just bipped right on the highway, Trackhawk sittin’ in the driveway… pull up, doot-doot, doo-doo-doo.” — Skrilla Two numbers. Word of the year. From Nairobi to New York, teenagers are chanting…

As the Boeing 737 rumbled down Runway 23 at Julius Nyerere International Airport and reached VR, I knew I was about to take off - away from the stillness of Dar es Salaam and back into the noise of the world. But part of me stayed behind in that silence - in a city where…

I was in Tanzania over the past 5 days — a country under lockdown amid election-related violence. Internet access was shut down, and even the cellular network was faint and fleeting. While it was frustrating to be unable to reach family, friends, and colleagues, there was also a strange sense of relief in being untethered…

The White House is being torn down. Not all of it, of course — just enough to make room for a ballroom. A gaudy one, I’m sure. If that doesn’t symbolize what’s happening to this country, I don’t know what does. A century-old symbol of policy, position, and public service is being gutted to appease…

Right now, millions of high school students around the world are hunched over keyboards, writing what they’ve been told might define their futures. And on the other side of this annual ritual, thousands of universities are preparing to read those essays - some carefully, some casually, and some with the quiet help of AI. It’s…

I’m not a religious guy, but every once in a while, I come across something in scripture that feels less like dogma and more like truth. This verse from the Bhagavad Gita is one of them: कर्मण्येवाधिकारस्ते मा फलेषु कदाचन। मा कर्मफलहेतुर्भूर्मा ते सङ्गोऽस्त्वकर्मणि॥ Karmanye vadhikaraste ma phaleshu kadachana. Ma karmaphalaheturbhurma te sango’stvakarmani. You have the right…

Seventeen years is a strange period of time. It’s long enough that the sharp edges of grief soften, but short enough that the memory of a voice, a laugh, or a familiar phrase can still arrive uninvited, as clear as yesterday. Next week will mark seventeen years since my father passed away. I don’t write…

The sound of feet against stone, moving in unison. The crack of sticks meeting in rhythm. A circle widening, tightening, spinning faster with every beat. Pure exhilaration! When I was younger, Navratri nights meant joining that rhythm — garba with its flowing steps, dandia with its clashing sticks. I used to wonder why it was…

“Where is your presence of mind?” When I was growing up, my dad would ask me this question whenever I seemed distracted or careless. It wasn’t a gentle question. It carried weight — the sense that I wasn’t paying attention, that I was missing something right in front of me. Sometimes it was about…

This week, I’ve been in Gothenburg, where thousands of international educators are gathered for the EAIE annual conference. The days here have been filled with conversations about mobility, belonging, and building bridges across borders. And as I wrapped up another day of meetings, my phone buzzed with news that made those conversations feel both urgent…