India, Sept. 25 -- "I didn't come to this world to write about Barron Trump's crypto holdings." I "joked" to a colleague-turned-friend as I prepared to do just that. Life isn't a fairy tale, after all, and adults must often do work they don't enjoy in order to make a living.

The article was one of 25 I produced each week, covering American politicians and technocrats. The pay was good, the environment friendly, and the job remote. In this economy, what more could one ask for? That's what I told myself-again and again-to quiet the gnawing sense of restlessness rising within me, even as I tried to feel grateful for the stability I had.

St James's Park, alive with water birds and royal charm, gave her a quiet corner to finish a book (Photo...