DECODING DRAUPADIThe Decoding Draupadi Newsletter
Notes from inside the sisterhood.
Essays on the things working women talk about with each other and rarely read about anywhere else: money, mothers, friendships, homes, bodies and work. Straight to your inbox, every couple of weeks.
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Recent issues
Full archive on Substack →aaj gaadi teri behen chalayegi (?)
On Indian women learning to drive. And more.
Read →8 Sept 2026Your mum had an affair. With patriarchy.
The beliefs the women in our families carried without question, and never called by name.
Read →1 Sept 2026The Place That Was Never Ours To Begin With
On third places, the Indian working woman, and the radical act of sitting somewhere just to sit.
Read →26 Aug 2026💄The Friendship Recession Is Real, And You're Probably In One
Adult friendships don't end in a fight. They end in a hundred small "let's catch up soon" texts that never happen.
Read →18 Aug 2026The Mouse in the Room
What we've absorbed as fact about our own cycles, and how much of it was actually tested on a body that doesn't have one
Read →5 Aug 2026“Just Seeing Where Things Go" Is a Scam
You negotiate your salary. You don't negotiate your situationship. Here's why that's a problem:
Read →26 Jul 2026Women and the Woman Card
The deck was always stacked. Here's why we're done hiding our hand.
Read →8 Jul 2026The Fine Print Nobody Reads Before Moving to Dubai
Three Indian women moved for work, stayed for the plot, and told us everything the Reels leave out.
Read →22 Jun 2026Every Woman Has a Bra Story, and a Drawer Full of Evidence
On fit that never quite fits, sizing that was never built for us, the body image spiral nobody warns you about, and the quiet relief of finally unclasping it at the end of the day.
Read →10 Jun 2026Nobody Warned You That Finding a Home Would Feel Like This
A roof over your head should not require this much of you.
Read →2 Jun 2026Why Your Work Bestie Is Not Your Real Friend
She covers for you. She vents with you. She knows your coffee order by heart. But do you actually know her? On the strange closeness and even stranger distance of work friendships.
Read →22 May 2026The Responsible Daughter Tax
Nobody put a price on it. You just kept paying.
Read →