Sharmila Bhowmick

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GRAIN OF TRUTH India is becoming more conscious about food. We read labels. We ask about gluten. We seek organic grains. We rediscover ragi, jowar and bajra. We want to know where our food comes from. But here’s the uncomfortable bit: Conscious eating is becoming expensive. Rice, wheat and pulses have all seen significant price pressures. And choose organic, and the grocery bill can climb sharply, sometimes by 20–30% or more. Meanwhile, FSSAI has issued 150+ notices to food businesses over misleading advertising, labelling and claims. So what exactly does pure mean? Is it “100% natural” on a packet? Is it organic? Is it gluten-free? Or does purity begin much earlier, with healthy soil, ethical farming, fair prices for farmers, transparent processing and an honest label? Read: mochainkmag.com/grain-of-tru…

The Chemistry Of Pretty There is something almost magical about a gel manicure: colour goes on liquid, a lamp transforms it in seconds, and what emerges is a hard, glossy finish built to last. But that staying power comes with chemistry worth understanding. From August 15, 2026, Great Britain began restricting cosmetics containing TPO, a photoinitiator used in some UV- and LED-cured nail products. TPO helps trigger the reaction that turns liquid gel into its durable finish. Britain’s move has put the spotlight on what sits beneath the shine, just as India’s booming nail economy makes gel manicures increasingly mainstream. So before your hands go under the lamp, it is worth asking: what exactly are we curing onto our nails? Read the full story on MochaInkMag.com

Free. Fearless. Forever. Happy Independence Day 🇮🇳

Living Inside The Label mochainkmag.com/living-insid…

On the write side of things this morning 😇

Why do I feel fortunate? Because I have spent a large part of last 40+ years in being creative and not clever. Creativity over cleverness. Always.

To everyone inside and outside the Mocha Friends Circle—Happy Friendship Day! May your coffee stay warm, your conversations honest, and your friendships timeless.

10 things Mocha taught me in 10 months Starting up can be full of whimsy, an alchemy of joy. The business is like a friend, hobby, companion. Ever evolving. Ten months of running Mocha taught me more than a year at any job. More than being able to build a unique selling proposition, a revenue model, a business deck, a solid pitch and more – it taught me a few things about building character and trust. You want to know who your enemies are? Start a business. Here are 10 things that stuck. 1. There is nothing like 100% clarity when you start out doing anything. The path emerges when dreams and actions align. 2. Congruence. Put that at the centre of it all. 3. Stay on the drawing board. Shed skin. The old block will leave you. New people will join you. 4. Your unique offering is the soul of your business. Keep the soul alive.  5. Branding? Your face is the brand. Not your logo. Speak for it. Show up for it.  6. Reach out and ask – for feedback, support. Learn taxes. 7. Be aware – of contests, pull-downs, spirit-killers, sunshine stealers. If it's not affecting anyone, it's not worth doing. You are touching lives. 8. Pitch relentlessly. Some will convert. Some won't. Every pitch will teach. 9. Sharpen your skills. Your designer will ditch you with a text message at midnight. Hire only to fill gaps. 10. You are your own back up. Create systems.    The business will consume you. You won't remain the same person who started it. Soon, it will stop being your mask and become your mirror. That's when you will know you are winning.

It takes a village to raise a child. In a city where your neighbour doesn’t know your name, that village may look very different. It could be a nanny, a crèche, a day-boarding centre, your driver, the slightly eccentric neighbour who keeps an eye out, and sometimes even your ex, when you decide to become co-parents instead of adversaries. Something like that happened 10 years ago when I decided to raise my daughter on my own. It was beautiful chaos. While I was raising a little girl, I was also raising myself. We both grew up together. With hardly any family around, the neighbourhood became the proverbial village. Between a reporter’s relentless deadlines, school runs, hobbies, friendships and life’s everyday surprises, she grew up just fine. We even survived three years of homeschooling during the pandemic, a chapter that deserves a book of its own. That’s the thing about single parenting. You can do it brilliantly if you have one of three things: a strong family that shows up, a generous partner who puts the child first, or a circle of friends willing to lean in when life gets overwhelming. In my case, it was mostly my ex. The co-parent. Co-parenting looks effortless when Aamir Khan strolls around with smiling exes. Real life is rarely that neat. It demands swallowing pride, overlooking old hurts and choosing peace more often than you’d like. But when a child’s happiness becomes the shared purpose, something larger than ego begins to lead the way. You stop asking who won. You start asking whether the child is okay. Children who grow up in homes like ours often develop a quiet kind of empathy. They sense more than they say. They become the shoulders others lean on. They grow up a little faster than they should. Whether that’s a gift or a cost, I still don’t know. The little girl is now in the brink of adulthood. Sixteen years disappeared in the blink of an eye. There were no dramatic milestones, just a series of jobs, packed lunches, school projects, birthdays, illnesses, deadlines and ordinary days that quietly built an extraordinary life. Perhaps that’s what co-parenting taught me most. You don’t rock the boat when there’s a child sitting in it. You choose your battles. You let go of what doesn’t matter. You stay steady through the storms. And you trust time to do what only time can do. Sometimes, that’s enough. More than enough. #parenting