The Cosmic Scribbles

 2 heartbreaks, 2 jobs, 31 flights, 21 cities, 3 countries, 8 new friends, 18 books, 19 blog articles, minus 1 best friend later, we made it. In the movie of my life, 2022 is the cliff hanger that changes the track of everything that was expected and predicted. It is the year where the actor somehow finds herself crying uncontrollably in the middle of a club with glaring lights and loud music. It is the year where the actor shouts for help in the middle of a busy street while she is defeated by the loud noises in her mind. But this is also the year where she finds the background music to her life, where she finally realizes that she is kind, she is strong, she is empathetic, and she is a force of nature. This is the year that she finally gets her life off autopilot and embraces all of life’s challenges and troughs with the widest smile. Well, the aftermath of grief is strength. 2022 was some year. I was hurting. I was loving. I was laughing. I was crying. On some days it was ...

 I just want to take a moment to celebrate how people I have grown up with are flourishing and making their childhood dreams come true. A friend of mine purchased his favorite car, another one just booked tickets to watch his football idol play his last world cup. One friend flew to Dubai to watch her favorite artist play live, and another one shifted to a village because she always wanted to explore outside of the city life. It is so beautiful to see how everyone has grown up and beyond the restrictions that we were bound to during our childhood. All of our ‘Somedays’ have become ‘Today’. Our Pinterest boards are coming alive, and we’re wearing outfits that have caught our eyes since the Tumblr era. We’re coloring our hair in colors our schools would have never allowed and getting tattooed in places that would scare our family. We’re buying our favorite instruments, making our little gardens, and building our bookshelves. We’re taking solo trips, picking up unorthodox skills and...

1.         Midnight Rain To the heartbreak I chose My blue-eyed boy that made the world seem so uncomplicated. You are the dream come true of every girl wishing to the stars for a partner that makes life easy, calm, and steady. You bring laughter to every room, smile to every face and sunshine to the darkest days. I fell in love with you and the life we could have together. But I am not the same anymore. I want to live loudly, selfishly, recklessly. I want to fail and crash and fly. I want a life where my only commitment is to myself, and happiness is too small a dream to chase. I don’t want calm, I want passion. I don’t want a happily ever after, I want madness every day. I don’t want comfort; I want to chase the unknown. It hurt to let you go, but I’d rather let you go today, than live a life looking at you with eyes full of unfulfilled dreams. "He changed the same All of me changed like Midnight" Maroon To the one who left my world colorless  I always...

This 25, I give an ode to myself My resilient smile that is my light in every darkness, hope in hopeless situations and the strength in unchartered territory My hands that make it possible to capture and pen down this hauntingly beautiful journey of life My feet that lead me to explore parts of the world beyond my imagination My undefeated spirit that gives me the power to rise through everything designed to pull me down My strong shoulders that give me the grit to face every day with confidence  My driven mind that chases and perseveres and makes me turn every dream to a reality  And mostly, my heart, my sensitive, relentless, loving, optimistic heart which believes that this world is my playground and all the love and joy is mine to claim As long as I have me, I know that I am going to take this life, and make it the most epic story in the world

 I am a chaser. Time and I have been running a race, but I have always emerged victorious. I set goals, add timelines to them, and have somehow managed to achieve my goals before time. I am disciplined, dedicated and hard-working, and that has been my mantra to success. Patience has never been my strong suit. I don't wait for things to happen to me, I make things happen   So, when my heart broke, I made a game plan to mend it and move on from it. This was going to be a hard one, but my over-achieving self has always found its way to defeat time. So thus began my journey of mending my broken heart. I started therapy and was the ideal client who religiously did all the homework given by my therapist. I journaled. I wrote a few posts about moving on. I danced and drank my pain away, only for it to come ricocheting back. I travelled endlessly, hoping that in one of my trips I would have a moment when I realize that my heart has healed, but that failed too. I made break-up play...

Thank you to the guy in the bar who hit on me when I was feeling invisible Thank you to the little kid who came and held my hand when I was craving affection Thank you to the friend who hugged me as I cried uncontrollably Thank you to the cab driver who greeted me with a huge smile on a morning I couldn’t imagine getting through the day Thank you to the girl in a café who told me she finds my articles relatable when I thought I should quit writing Thank you to the student on a campus who told me I am her role model when I was feeling uninspired Thank you to the stranger at crossword who let me grab the last copy of a book I had wanted for 2 months Thank you to the girl who offered to take my photo after seeing I was clearly struggling Thank you to the friend who called my ambition sexy, when I had almost believed that it pushed people away Thank you to the waiter who gave me a free cheesecake when I was sitting alone at a café Thank you to the colleague who got me h...

  To being optimistic, but allowing myself the freedom to step away when it gets too much To being kind to the people in my life, but always being kind to myself first To being content in my safety net, yet allowing myself the scope to widen my comfort zone To planning my milestones, while leaving a window open for unanticipated happiness To achieving my dreams, while being rooted in humility To let my smile be my best accessory, yet loving myself even when the tears find their way through my cheeks To be infectiously energetic, while allowing myself to take a pause when it gets overwhelming To be proud of myself, yet never taking my journey for granted To working hard, and pursing everything with intent, yet having the strength to try again if things don’t work out To travel, to adventure, to eat, to read, to talk, to share, to love, to triumphs and to troughs, break downs, hopelessness, to taking a pause, to me, and to the rest of my life.

October has come with a fresh breathe of air Of calmer smiles and more present eyes Its come with a rejuvenated energy to make the most of the rest of the year October has come with a waterfall of hope And a renewed playlist on moving on It has come with an agenda to remind me that not everything is lost October comes with looking at old friendships with a new lens And finding solace in solitude  Watching the last of the rains and letting it wash the pain away And spending a little more time staring at the limitless sky October is for longer walks and never ending nights Its for soul touching music and books that feel like a hug October is for acceptance, and for smiling at a brighter future  It is for putting an end to the race and finally being at rest October is for holding my hand and my heart and telling myself that everything will turn out okay ❤️

Its pride month, and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion are being spoken about widely. These words are often used synonymously, and the essence of them is lost in translation. But it’s important to know how each of these truly contributes to forming a work/community environment that truly serves the productivity and well being of every employee/citizen.   So I’ll try to explain this in simple terms. Let us take the example of finalizing a menu for a dinner party.  Diversity: You have two options - only a pizza, or a mix of various cuisines. The latter is preferable since it offers you with a variety, and your guests get to choose basis their palette and preference.    This is diversity.  Incorporating a range of people from varied backgrounds/genders/age/etc. is Diversity.  Equity: You have decided to go ahead with cookies and icecream as desserts. You will store the cookies in a tin outside, while the icecream will have to be refrigerated. It is important to ...

  I just saw a kid fall flat on his knees while playing in the park. I expected him to start crying immediately, but I was astonished to see that he looked up with glimmering eyes and the biggest smile on his face. He was amused and he was happy. He checked himself to see if he was hurt, dusted himself off and starting galloping away again. He was unbothered about who saw, he wasn’t embarrassed or ashamed of ‘falling’ or ‘failing’. This incident was as simple as it looked. You fall, you evaluate your injuries, and you move on and continue your journey.   But we adults don’t see it that simply, do we? Why is it that when we fall, our immediate thought is ‘Gosh I wish no one saw’ and our self talk goes from ‘I am so embarrassing’, ‘Why am I so clumsy’, to ‘I hope I haven’t broken my phone’. Only after we pay enough heed to our cluttered thoughts, do we even bother to check if we have hurt ourself. Why are we so bothered with external reactions, that we barely pay heed to interna...

  Dear 20-year-old Saasha, I see you. I see you sitting in the college auditorium, feeling invisible among your batch of MBA classmates. I see you staring at the campus recruiter on the stage, filled with awe and wonder. You see her in her gray  blazer , driving the attention of everyone towards her.  You start daydreaming about her life. How lucky she is to take flights weekly, explore new cities, meet new people. How she gets a chance to address a filled auditorium occupied by inquisitive students just wanting to hear her. How she interacts with the next generation of talent and budding future leaders who are filled with excitement to land their first job. She leaves a long-lasting imprint on you, and you finally found your first corporate role model. I want to thank you for manifesting this every day, for your perseverance and hard work. I want to thank you for pushing through the days when this seemed impossible to achieve. You are finally living your daydream, and I ...

  I   am   me .  I  evolve,  I  change.  I  smile,  I  laugh,  I   am sad, and sometimes  I  cry  myself  to sleep.  I touch lives,  I  have friends,  I  might not always be the best person, but  I  know  I  always have good intentions.   I  write,  I  sing,  I  dance, and  I  read. I love  to talk, meet new people, and explore different worlds.  I  travel,  I  get lost, and  I  find  myself  in the process.  I  make mistakes,  I  fuck up, and at times the regret makes it hard to breathe. The ‘what-ifs’ impair my thinking, but mostly  I   am  hopeful that everything will turn out okay in the end.  I  believe in the universe, in miracles and in love. Life does not come with a guidebook, but  I  smile through the triumphs a...

  Strolling through these streets today, I started reminiscing about the time when I first arrived here. A clueless, under-confident, insecure, heartbroken 17-year-old who decided on a whim to move out of home. All I knew then, was that I did not like who I was, and this is the city that was going to transform me. This city was going to be where I was reborn, metamorphose into the best version of me. I was the weird girl who entered the first day of college with an orange shirt and a purple belt. I struggled with striking conversations, fitting in, and making friends. I didn’t know who to share a desk with, what to do during free lectures or who to have lunch with. I could see that people around me were different, smarter, and definitely more confident. I failed to understand how some people seamlessly fit into groups, laughing, and joking away as if they’d known each other forever. But every day, I woke up with a newfound determination to make this my home. My eyes sparkled every ...

You miss his voice? Remember he used it to destroy your self identity   Miss his texts? Remember how he hatefully drafted them to break your peace  Miss his touch? Remember he used it like a dagger over your head Miss his words? Remember how he used them to gaslight everything you ever felt Miss his smile? Remember how he forgot that you were the reason for it Miss spending time with him? Remember how he took everything for granted Miss how he always understood you? Remember how he used it to dig up your deepest insecurities  Miss how you felt around him? Realise how you are feeling today because of him Miss talking to him? Remember all the vile shit he has been talking about you Miss the memories? Remember how he rewrote all of them to make you the villain Miss doing things for him? Remember how they never mattered to him Miss being loved by him? Remember he never loved you at all

 As my phone floods with forwards of wishes, and the bland celebratory sales pitches with worthless promo codes, I come to realize that it is Women’s day today. And while its intention was to celebrate the women around you, and the spirit of being one, it has sadly been reduced to claiming a 20% discount on your favorite make up brand or getting a free pink cupcake after your meal at a restaurant. While I am not one to complain about freebies; year on year I only see a diminishing significance of this day. And it makes me ponder, what would a day, dedicated to women look like. A woman can step out in what she feels comfortable wearing, instead of making decisions basis the time and the people who would be around to see her A day when a mother would not have to worry every time her daughter goes for tuitions It would be a day when a housewife does not have to wake up earlier than she wants to, only because she must serve tea to her husband in bed When she doesn’t have to t...

  Being an HR professional, most people around me assume that I would be the correct person to guide them in their academic and career choices. The key question being ‘What is the right career for me?’. Followed by related questions like ‘What industry would be most suitable?’, ‘What degree would bring me closer to my dream job?’, ‘What should be the organization that I should target?’, etc.   But, before I answer that question, let us back-track to the first essay we wrote in primary school – ‘What do you want to be when you grow up?’. Do you remember what you answered? I wanted to be an astronaut. And unless I am recruiting aliens for a planet inhabited by Consultants, I am far from what my first ambition was. Let us take a step ahead when we attended our first career fair in college. What were the stalls that you visited? I was intrigued by accountants, researchers, and authors. I met an English teacher and was dead sure that I wanted to enter academics. All those who have ...