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A polished career can hide a quiet price. When you spend decades in newsrooms, close to ministers, bureaucrats, elections, and crisis, what happens to your inner life when your outer life never slows down?

We kick off our Portfolio Life Series with Rakesh Khar, a veteran of India’s leading news brands, to talk about resilience that is not performative. He opens up about being displaced by the Kashmir tragedy, carrying loss alongside professional highs, and the values his parents drilled into him: live by your values, keep compassion, practice forgiveness even when you cannot forget. From that foundation, we explore what “a good life” starts to mean as you age, when income can rise but the presence of parents, roots, and time can’t be bought back.

From there, the conversation moves into leadership endurance and modern relevance. Rakesh shares what he has seen sustain people in power across regimes: deep skill, self-packaging, and the discipline to “bring value for the day” because yesterday is history, especially in the age of AI. We also talk candidly about media credibility, the pressure for instant gratification, and why reinvention, unlearning, and reskilling matter more than titles.

We close with work-life balance, national responsibility during crisis, and a practical compassion experiment you can do today with the people who make your life easier. If you found value here, subscribe, share this with a friend, and leave a review. What’s one choice you’ll make this week to invest in your own portfolio life?

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Clarity is overrated. The real beginning of change is that uneasy feeling you keep trying to outgrow, ignore, or rationalise away. We close our Changemakers series with a reflective summary of the conversations that lingered long after recording ended, and the seven lessons that reshaped how we think about agency, purpose, and impact.

We talk about what it looks like to live fully while carrying illness or disability, and why the hardest barrier is often other people’s assumptions. When someone asks, “Are you sure you can do this?” the honest answer might be “Yes, not the way you think I will.” From thoughtful systems and shared decision making to dignity at work, the thread is simple: capability has many forms, and inclusion is built through everyday choices, not slogans.

We also unpack practical ideas that apply to anyone trying to build something meaningful: purpose is built, not discovered; you don’t need permission to begin; inner work is harder than outer work; change is slow and deeply unglamorous; and no one creates impact alone. We connect these lessons to life skills for a fast-changing world, to caregiving as a learnable set of skills where love isn’t the same as preparedness, and to the moment when speaking up stops being a choice because silence does more harm than good.

If something here hits home, don’t wait for certainty. Grab a pen, write the one thing you’re postponing, and take the first step today. Subscribe, share this with a friend who needs a nudge, and leave a review with the lesson you’re taking into your own life.

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A single whispered conversation about periods during COVID became a wake-up call and a launchpad. We’re joined by Palakh Khanna, founder of Break the Ice, a youth-led nonprofit that creates spaces for honest dialogue around the topics many communities still treat as taboo: menstruation and period poverty, mental health, gender equality, sustainability, climate action, and youth empowerment.

We dig into why stigma survives even when people “know better.” Palakh breaks it down into two powerful forces: lack of awareness and misinformation. Using mental health as a clear example, we talk about how unclear language and casual labels can blur real conditions, and why safer conversations need both empathy and accurate information. You’ll also hear what it takes to build non-judgmental, peer-led rooms where people feel comfortable speaking up, plus when it makes sense to bring experts into the circle so doubts can be clarified without shame.

The conversation gets personal, too. Palakh shares her growth from being a “massive introvert” to becoming a speaker, and the small habits that helped, including journaling, setting micro-goals, and seeking mentorship. We also explore a future-facing idea: moving young people from participants to decision makers and co-creators, not just beneficiaries.

If you’ve ever felt “too young,” “not ready,” or unsure how to start, this one offers a grounded path forward. Subscribe for more reflective conversations, share this with someone who needs the nudge, and leave a review if you want these stories to reach more people.

Have you purchased the copy of Inspire Someone Today, yet - Give it a go geni.us/istbook

Available on all podcast platforms, including, Apple Podcasts, YouTube, Spotify