Simplii Mrunalii

When you study medicine, you study fragility first. You see how thin the boundary is between stability and collapse. A slight imbalance in electrolytes. A small clot in the wrong place. A mutation invisible to the naked eye. And suddenly, the body changes everything. There is something profoundly humbling about that. As children, fairytales show us enchanted transformations. As medical students, w...

People say we stopped believing in fairytales because we “grew up.” As if belief were something childish. As if maturity required surrender. But I don’t think we stopped believing in magic. I think we stopped believing in certainty. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit mrunalii.substack.com

When we speak of magic in fairytales, we usually mean the impossible. Spells. Transformations. Sudden reversals. The extraordinary interrupting the ordinary. Reality doesn’t appear to operate that way. It feels procedural. Causal. Governed by consequence and probability. So the question becomes serious: Can reality teach us magic the way fairytales do? This is a public episode. If you would like t...

We often talk about what fairytales tell us. We rarely talk about what they do to us. Because stories don’t just entertain. They condition. They rehearse emotional patterns. They install expectations quietly, long before we realize we’re carrying them. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit mrunalii.substack.com

People often say we shouldn’t compare fairytales to reality. That one is faantasy and the other is fact. That one is entertainment and the other is survival. That comparison creates disappointment. But I think the refusal to compare is more dangerous than the comparison itself. Because comparison is not confusion. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers o...

Sometimes I wonder if the reason fairytales comfort us isn’t the magic. It’s the structure. Fairytales feel designed. There is a beginning that makes sense. A middle that tests the hero. An ending that feels earned. Even the suffering fits somewhere. Even the detours seem intentional. And real life… doesn’t always feel like that. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with oth...

When we hear the word losing, we imagine an ending. Something final. Something shameful. Something that means we didn’t try hard enough or want it badly enough. But fairytales don’t see losing that way. They never really have. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit mrunalii.substack.com

If we wished like fairytales, our wishes wouldn’t be loud. They wouldn’t be greedy. They wouldn’t even be dramatic. They’d be quiet. Because fairytale wishes are never about having more. They’re about having enough. Enough safety. Enough love. Enough certainty to rest our hearts for a moment. If we wished like fairytales, we wouldn’t ask to be extraordinary. This is a public episode. If you would...

The world is nicer in fairytales. I don’t say that as criticism. I say it the way you admit something you’ve known for a long time but never said out loud. In fairytales, kindness exists without suspicion. When someone helps you, You don’t wonder what they want in return. When someone stays, you don’t wait for the moment they’ll leave. Care is allowed to be sincere. In the real world, kindness oft...

There is a quiet truth I don’t think we say out loud enough. And that is - Some of us trust stories more than we trust people. Not because we are naïve. Not because we are antisocial. But because stories have never left us the way people have. Fairytales don’t abandon you. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit mrun...

Some people come into your life and disappear. They change. They move on. They forget. But stories don’t do that. They wait. On a shelf. In a song. Inside a memory. They stay exactly where you left them, ready to open again the moment you need them. That is why we keep coming back. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, v...

The girl who waits always loses, not because she lacks worth, but because the world moves forward, without consulting those who pause themselves. I seem to think about the aspect of waiting, a lot lately. Like waiting is described as this magnificent promise you can make to yourself or to anyone in general. But what is this notion attached to waiting? Like I'm sure it is positive but there is an u...