I believe I was born to eat. Food has been and will always be my first love. Period. Little wonder then, while other kids rolled on the floor crying for toys, yearning for attention or demanding something out of this world, I was building castles of pani poori in thin air. Don’t believe me?

I would actually wish pani poori to appear out of nowhere each time I my tummy growled. That was my earliest idea of manifestation or the lack of it. And now that I am standing on the edge, confused between looking and feeling old, one thing hasn’t changed. The pani poori manifesto! The only difference – I can manifest my desire to pop a poori on the same day, if not in an instant. Does that make me an Indian Matilda 100X? I don’t just move stuff with my eyes, my focus gives birth to crispy pooris and tangy paani in a jifffy.

Alright, without digressing further, Manifestation is one topic that has caught my attention. Until five years ago, I don’t remember hearing this word. But in the last couple of years, the chatter all around is, “I manifested a car, a house, a weight loss, even a baby!”

You dare type the word on google search and you are doomed. Every other social media channel you open suddenly throws the manifestation mantra at you. It’s like grab it until stocks last. So I decided to delve a bit deeper into the topic. And fyi, I will take some time to write about the different things I realised about it, this whole week.

For today, I would like you to think – When you were younger, or all the way up until 2020, did you ever achieve what you wanted to or desired? Did you use a series of steps to reach there? Did anyone come and give you a list of steps to follow?

Okay, I am not trying to undermine people who talk about the idea of ‘receiving from the universe’ what you desire. In my observation, we have manifested plenty of things we wanted. As Indian kids, we were asked to pray for what we wanted. Next, we were asked to work for what we sought. Of course there were hits and there were misses. So did we manifest anything at all?

Is there a shift in the jargon we use for achievements? Is manifestation a new concept about focused attention or does it have a history? Let me know your thoughts before I share more about manifestation tomorrow.

P.S. Incessant scrolling on insta, tik tok and FB has given rise to a new breed of pioneers – self proclaimed gurus. Ones that go on to tell you what to do and how to manifest anything. Beware who you follow online.

Notes to self – It is another Monday! Two weeks of going strong. May the force be with me!