𝐖𝐇𝐘 𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐘𝐎𝐍𝐄 𝐈𝐒 𝐓𝐈𝐑𝐄𝐃 𝐍𝐎𝐖𝐀𝐃𝐀𝐘𝐒

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐝𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐰𝐞 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥 𝐭𝐨𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝐢𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐰𝐞𝐚𝐤𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐮𝐦 𝐨𝐟 𝐬𝐨𝐜𝐢𝐞𝐭𝐲’𝐬 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐬, 𝐝𝐞𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐝𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐬 — 𝐭𝐨 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐚 𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐥.

There is a quiet epidemic spreading everywhere, in big cities and small towns, among office workers, homemakers, students, even children. It does not come with fever or cough, yet it affects almost everyone. Its symptom is simple:

We are always tired.

This tiredness is not the natural fatigue that comes after a day of good work in the fields, or the heaviness after carrying bricks on a construction site. That tiredness is honest and refreshing — sleep wipes it away. The tiredness we are talking about is different. It lingers. It does not leave even after sleep. It is a background noise in the body, a dull ache in the head, a constant weight in the bones.

Why is everyone so tired now? To answer this, we must peel back the layers.

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𝐋𝐚𝐲𝐞𝐫 𝟏: 𝐒𝐥𝐞𝐞𝐩, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐬𝐚𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐞

Sleep was once sacred. The day ended with the sun, and people rested with the rhythm of nature. But today, the day never ends. We carry glowing rectangles in our hands that keep us awake, filling our eyes with light and our minds with noise.

We tell ourselves that six hours is enough, that scrolling a little more won’t matter. But the body keeps a strict account. Even one lost hour per night builds a heavy debt. By the weekend, we are poorer than we know.

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𝐋𝐚𝐲𝐞𝐫 𝟐: 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐛𝐨𝐝𝐲 𝐨𝐧 𝐚 𝐟𝐮𝐥𝐥 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐜𝐡

India eats more than ever before, yet many are malnourished. We eat polished rice, fried snacks, packaged food, endless cups of tea. But what about iron? What about Vitamin B12 or D?

A woman who bleeds heavily every month loses iron faster than her diet can replace it. She walks around pale, short of breath, exhausted.

A vegetarian family avoids meat and eggs, but without B12, their nerves fray, their memory dulls, their strength fades.

We sit indoors all day, shielded from the sun, yet without Vitamin D, our muscles feel heavy and weak.

It is a strange tragedy: to have food, but not nourishment.

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𝐋𝐚𝐲𝐞𝐫 𝟑: 𝐃𝐢𝐬𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐟𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐠𝐮𝐞

Sometimes, tiredness is the only voice of a silent illness.

A sluggish thyroid. Early diabetes. Kidney disease. Long COVID. Even tuberculosis in its slow, creeping form. All of these first whisper through fatigue, long before they scream through dramatic symptoms. But because fatigue has become so common, we ignore it.

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𝐋𝐚𝐲𝐞𝐫 𝟒: 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐢𝐫 𝐰𝐞 𝐛𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞

The sky itself is heavier. In our cities, the air is laced with fine dust and smoke that the lungs cannot filter out. The body responds with inflammation — an invisible fire that burns energy silently. We sleep poorly when the air is toxic, we wake groggy, and we blame ourselves instead of the world we live in.

And then comes the heat. Nights grow hotter, fans only push warm air around, sleep breaks, and the body never fully restores.

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𝐋𝐚𝐲𝐞𝐫 𝟓: 𝐋𝐢𝐟𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭

Even if the body were fine, our lives are not. The pressure of survival in modern India is relentless.

Two-hour commutes.

Endless work shifts.

Children’s exams, parents’ hospital visits, household chores.

The buzzing phone that never allows silence.

We do not rest because the world does not permit rest. We are always “on.”

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𝐋𝐚𝐲𝐞𝐫 𝟔: 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐨𝐝𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐦𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐬

Ironically, while life is exhausting, most bodies hardly move. Machines do the work, chairs hold us still, and rides carry us everywhere. Muscles weaken, stamina drops, and the mitochondria — the tiny batteries in each cell — shrink in power. A 20-minute walk can restore some spark, but when you are already tired, walking feels impossible. And so the cycle deepens.

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𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐞𝐫: 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐨𝐧 𝐩𝐚𝐭𝐡

Each of these causes — poor sleep, missing nutrients, hidden disease, polluted air, endless pressure, inactive bodies — they all meet in one place: tiredness.

The body has only one language to signal distress. Whether the problem is blood, hormones, pollution, or stress, the message is the same:

I am tired. Help me.

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𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤

Energy will not return overnight. Just as fatigue built up layer by layer, recovery too comes slowly. But it is possible.

Sleep at the same time, wake at the same time.

Step into the sun at least thrice a week.

Eat foods with iron and pair them with lemon, amla, or tomato for absorption.

If vegetarian, consider milk, curd, paneer, or talk to a doctor about B12.

Move daily. Even ten minutes of brisk walking is a beginning.

Reduce screens before bed.

If tiredness persists, get a simple blood test.

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𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐥𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐭𝐡

The modern Indian is not lazy. We are not weak. We are simply trapped in conditions that drain us from all sides.

But tiredness is not permanent. Small corrections — in rest, in food, in sun, in breath, in movement — bring life back into the body. Not suddenly, but gradually, like rain filling a dry well.

Energy seeps back the same way it was lost — one layer at a time.

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𝐖𝐇𝐘 𝐀𝐑𝐄 𝐖𝐄 𝐀𝐋𝐋 𝐓𝐈𝐑𝐄𝐃?

A Socratic dialogue at an off-grid homestead

by Dr. Madhukar Dama

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𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠

One early morning near Yelmadagi, I invited a small circle of people to my off-grid homestead. Not to listen to me speak, but to sit together in dialogue. I asked them to bring not solutions but questions. The question I posed was simple, yet deep:

𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐢𝐬 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐭𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐧𝐨𝐰𝐚𝐝𝐚𝐲𝐬?

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𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬

𝐑𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐬𝐡 (𝐅𝐚𝐫𝐦𝐞𝐫): the working body, labouring with soil and sun.

𝐋𝐚𝐤𝐬𝐡𝐦𝐢 (𝐄𝐥𝐝𝐞𝐫): memory of older rhythms, traditional wisdom.

𝐃𝐫. 𝐀𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐚 (𝐃𝐨𝐜𝐭𝐨𝐫): the medical lens, meeting fatigue daily in her clinic.

𝐒𝐮𝐣𝐚𝐭𝐚 (𝐒𝐇𝐆 𝐖𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐧): women’s hidden labour, unpaid work, and caregiving burdens.

𝐀𝐫𝐮𝐧 (𝐒𝐭𝐮𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭): the restless youth, lost in screens and exams.

𝐌𝐞𝐞𝐧𝐚 (𝐍𝐆𝐎 𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐫): the bridge between individual pain and collective change.

𝐈𝐦𝐫𝐚𝐧 (𝐀𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐬𝐭): the voice of the environment, air, and public health.

𝐑𝐚𝐝𝐡𝐚 (𝐉𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭): the observer and amplifier of social patterns.

𝐊𝐢𝐫𝐚𝐧 (𝐀𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐬𝐭): the interpreter, who transforms experience into metaphor and image.

𝐌𝐚𝐝𝐡𝐮𝐤𝐚𝐫: the host, weaving the questions, inviting reflection.

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𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐃𝐢𝐚𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐮𝐞

𝐌𝐚𝐝𝐡𝐮𝐤𝐚𝐫: Friends, thank you for coming. Let me ask you plainly: why are we tired nowadays?

𝐑𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐬𝐡 (𝐅𝐚𝐫𝐦𝐞𝐫): For me, it is obvious. I work in the fields, I sweat, and of course I get tired. But this is not like before. Earlier, rest and food restored me. Now, even after sleep, the tiredness stays.

𝐌𝐚𝐝𝐡𝐮𝐤𝐚𝐫: Why do you think that is?

𝐑𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐬𝐡: The food has lost its strength. Fertilisers, pesticides, polished rice… they fill the stomach, but not the body.

𝐋𝐚𝐤𝐬𝐡𝐦𝐢 (𝐄𝐥𝐝𝐞𝐫): In my youth, we ate ragi gruel with buttermilk, simple vegetables, and walked miles every day. Still, we had strength. Now young people eat packaged food and sit in chairs all day. Yet they say they are tired.

𝐌𝐚𝐝𝐡𝐮𝐤𝐚𝐫: So we are speaking of both food and lifestyle. But is that enough to explain this exhaustion?

𝐃𝐫. 𝐀𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐚 (𝐃𝐨𝐜𝐭𝐨𝐫): In my clinic, fatigue is the number one complaint. Many women are anaemic. Many young men have low Vitamin B12. Vitamin D is low across the board. But sometimes blood tests are normal, and still people say: “Doctor, I am tired.” That is when I see the mind itself is fatigued.

𝐒𝐮𝐣𝐚𝐭𝐚 (𝐒𝐇𝐆 𝐖𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐧): I live that reality. My day starts before sunrise, and ends past midnight. I cook, clean, farm, send children to school, look after elders. This is invisible work. Nobody calls it labour, but it drains the body more than any wage-earning job. Even if I am healthy, I feel tired because my responsibilities never pause.

𝐌𝐚𝐝𝐡𝐮𝐤𝐚𝐫: So tiredness is not only personal — it is shaped by society’s arrangements, where women carry more hidden load than men.

𝐒𝐮𝐣𝐚𝐭𝐚: Yes. Even schoolgirls feel exhausted. Not because of illness, but because their bodies and minds are overburdened from the start.

𝐀𝐫𝐮𝐧 (𝐒𝐭𝐮𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭): For us it is different. We don’t plough or fetch water. But we live on screens. At night we scroll, we prepare for exams till midnight. Our bodies are still, but our minds are racing. That leaves us exhausted even after sitting all day.

𝐌𝐚𝐝𝐡𝐮𝐤𝐚𝐫: If sitting can tire us as much as labour, then what is it we are truly losing?

𝐀𝐫𝐮𝐧: Focus. Attention. That is what burns out.

𝐈𝐦𝐫𝐚𝐧 (𝐀𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐬𝐭): And let’s not forget the environment. In our cities, people wake already tired. Air pollution inflames the body and disturbs sleep. Heat keeps us restless at night. You may eat well and exercise, but if the air poisons you, the body loses strength.

𝐌𝐚𝐝𝐡𝐮𝐤𝐚𝐫: Then tiredness is not just biological. It is also political. It is shaped by how we design our cities, what industries we allow, how we treat the air and soil.

𝐌𝐞𝐞𝐧𝐚 (𝐍𝐆𝐎 𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐫): Yes, and in villages too. Long commutes, irregular work, lack of clean water, poor sanitation — all sap energy. I see women fainting in meetings, not from disease but from exhaustion and hunger.

𝐑𝐚𝐝𝐡𝐚 (𝐉𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭): As I report across communities, I see one word repeat: “tired.” Farmers say it, IT workers say it, homemakers say it. Yet we treat it as a private weakness. We never call it a shared condition of our time.

𝐌𝐚𝐝𝐡𝐮𝐤𝐚𝐫: And what happens when we see it as only personal?

𝐑𝐚𝐝𝐡𝐚: We blame ourselves. We pop supplements. We feel guilty. But we never ask the deeper questions.

𝐊𝐢𝐫𝐚𝐧 (𝐀𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐬𝐭): To me, tiredness is a portrait of our age. One human figure bent under invisible weights: food that lacks nutrition, air that lacks purity, work that lacks balance, society that lacks rest. If I paint this, maybe people will see that their private burden is part of a collective picture.

𝐌𝐚𝐝𝐡𝐮𝐤𝐚𝐫: Then let me summarise. Tiredness today is not laziness. It is not simply disease. It is the final common pathway where poor food, restless minds, polluted air, endless pressure, and inactive bodies all meet.

𝐋𝐚𝐤𝐬𝐡𝐦𝐢 (𝐄𝐥𝐝𝐞𝐫): You asked at the start: why are we tired nowadays? My answer is — because we have lost rhythm. Work and rest, day and night, food and movement, society and nature. We broke the rhythm. Tiredness is the sound of that broken drum.

𝐌𝐚𝐝𝐡𝐮𝐤𝐚𝐫: Well said. Healing then is not only about pills or vitamins. It is about restoring rhythm — in our homes, in our bodies, in our societies, and in the earth itself.

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𝐂𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐑𝐞𝐟𝐥𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧

This dialogue is not the end of an inquiry, but its beginning. Each voice represents millions more who cannot be present. Farmers, women, youth, doctors, activists, storytellers, artists — all speak from their corner of reality, yet all point to the same truth.

𝐖𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐰𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐞𝐚𝐤, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐬𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐬 — 𝐛𝐢𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥, 𝐬𝐨𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥, 𝐞𝐧𝐯𝐢𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐥 — 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐞𝐝.

To heal is to remember rhythm, and to live again in tune with it.

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𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐏𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐀𝐫𝐞 𝐓𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐝

men are tired

women are tired

children are tired

the nation itself walks with a limp

tired not from building empires

not from chasing glory

but from waiting in traffic jams

for buses that never come

from chewing rice that tastes of chemicals

from standing in lines that go nowhere

tiredness grows like mold

in the corners of rented rooms

behind cheap ceiling fans

in the cough of a child

with too many antibiotics in her blood

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the farmer’s hands are cracked

but it is not the plough that breaks him

it is the market price

the loan collector’s stare

the hunger that stays even after dinner

the office man sits in an air-conditioned cube

his spine folding like a broken chair

eyes fixed on numbers he doesn’t believe in

his blood sugar rising

his ambition dying

his tiredness disguised as professionalism

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women

carry the heaviest bags

bags of rice

bags of expectation

bags of unpaid work

bags of silence

their shoulders know the mathematics of burden

better than any schoolboy with his equations

their fatigue is not sleepiness

it is a slow burning fever

fed by cooking smoke

and swallowed insults

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students scroll through the night

notebooks blank

thumbs aching

their eyes red not from study

but from endless reels

their tiredness is invisible

to parents who still call them lazy

to teachers who call them distracted

to themselves who don’t know

that exhaustion can come

from doing nothing at all

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the air itself is tired

grey lungs gasping in Delhi

dust riding every rickshaw in Nagpur

plastic choking the gutters of Chennai

we breathe fatigue with every intake

exhale despair with every sigh

the rivers are tired too

carrying shit and chemicals

bearing witness to factories that spit poison

while politicians cut ribbons at their banks

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the body doesn’t lie

it rings alarms in hemoglobin levels

in thyroid whispers

in Vitamin D gone missing

in hearts racing without cause

the doctors prescribe pills

but what tablet can cure

a society that runs faster than its own breath?

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old men are tired of remembering

young men are tired of pretending

old women are tired of sacrifice

young women are tired of safety drills

everybody is tired of waiting

for somebody else to change things

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sometimes tiredness wears a suit

sometimes it wears a saree

sometimes it wears a school uniform

sometimes it wears nothing but shame

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this land of festivals and slogans

runs on the sweat of the exhausted

our gods may never sleep

but their devotees collapse

between puja and payment

between devotion and debt

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what is left when a whole nation

is too tired to ask why?

we buy energy drinks

we swallow capsules

we take selfies with hollow eyes

we pretend this is normal

we say: “just work harder”

we say: “this is life”

we say: “tomorrow will be better”

but the truth is tomorrow

is as tired as today

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listen—

the problem is not your body alone

it is the drumbeat we lost

day and night no longer dance together

work and rest no longer bow to each other

food no longer nourishes

air no longer heals

and society no longer cares

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fatigue has become our flag

hoisted in every house

on every desk

in every bloodstream

the nation walks forward

but each step is heavier

than the last

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and yet

the possibility remains—

to remember rhythm

to walk barefoot into sun

to taste food that is alive

to allow women to rest

to allow children to dream without screens

to demand air worth breathing

to sit down

to breathe slow

to reclaim strength

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until then

the people are tired

and tiredness is the only anthem

that everyone

already knows by heart.

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