There's every chance that the holistic system I’m investing in might fail to "un-grow" the six-cm fibroid. But how much bad could come from investing in a disciplined diet, a yoga routine, and a general de-stressing? Representation pic/Thinkstock

"The real question is how do you measure time?" I remember saying to my sister one evening, a few weeks ago, when we were making our way in a rickshaw through unsurprisingly dense traffic. We were speaking about the restlessness that can creep under one's skin from mindless routine, the kind characterised by full-time employment. When I lived in a hostel in JNU, I measured time in empty buckets.