India, June 21 -- Each time my editor at the Hindustan Times, Zara Murao, reminds me that it's time to write this column, we both laugh and shudder at once. Has it been two weeks already? Wasn't it just the other day she reminded me of my last deadline? It's the middle of the year already; how did it pass by so fast?

These aren't the only times this sensation hits. There have been many moments this year when I've looked up from my desk and felt like I've lost entire weeks.

A project I started work on "just the other day" has turned out to be months old. My pile of summer reads has gone untouched. Suddenly, we are well into the monsoon.

If you've felt this too - that 2025 is somehow moving faster than usual - you're not alone. And no, t...