India, June 7 -- A massage. That was all he needed.

Not a luxury vacation. Not a five-star spa package with robes and cucumber water.

Just sixty minutes of quiet. A warm room. Steady hands. Oil kneaded into tired shoulders. A chance to return to himself. But he didn't go.

"Too expensive," my friend said. "It's Rs.2,500. I can't justify that. Not essential."

Since then, "essential" has been echoing in my head. What do we consider essential? Food, water, shelter. the basics of survival? Yes. But surely there are also "essentials" among the things that makes life worth living?

What about the things that make us feel human? That act as quiet forms of repair?

My generation grew up in a culture that glorified denial. Now middle-aged, we a...