About The Article Author:
Hi, I’m Rachana. Its been my dream for years to do something to consciously create a better future where every one of us is excited about our own potential. My challenge to everyone is that they aspire for their personal best and leave a legacy of their work through their contributions to mankind.
One more thing. In December of 2044, I hope to win the Nobel.
Will you join me on this journey of growth and transformation?
Namasté.
The Indian American Life
Human Slop: How This Fellowship-Winning ‘Satire’ Shows the Literature World’s Low Bar
Hey, sorry this needs a content warning. I'm about to review an unpalatable vulgar fictional story by a writer who has won a $75k/yr fellowship prize for this gem. A full 2-year creative writing fellowship at Stanford, nonetheless. The opening paragraph reads like...
Prabhu Ramachandra Ke Dootha: The Divine Power of Hanuman That Awakens Strength, Faith & Fearlessness
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When Men’s Vanity Becomes a Requirement: How Social Media Turned Self-Improvement Into Obsession
A decade ago, I had a Korean coworker who put my skincare regimen to shame. I used to be annoyed at him for not leaving a single lick of hair on his perfectly groomed, smooth skin. He blamed it on his culture’s beauty standards — and the fact that his wife was a...
In Life, He Left Our Hearts Racing — In Death, He Broke Them
Back around 2005, my husband and I were still watching TV together in the evenings. One of the shows we’d tune into was Grey's Anatomy. Yes, we had claimed our solidarity and remained fully committed to each other in spirit, but there seemed to be an unspoken rule...
Love For My Lava – A Poem by Rachana
It’s not a recurring dream —it’s my childhood in technicolor. I’m in Eluru again,first-floor balcony,colored baby chicksstrut past the open street sewer. Over the brick wall,police cadets march —stiff, precise,the way colonizers drilled them,looking ridiculous under...
When Dreams Abroad Turn Heavy: The Tragic Story and the Silent Mental Health Crisis of International Students
A Promise And Brilliance Lost “I'm a Master’s student in the Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering department at University of California, Berkeley, with an undergraduate degree from IIT Madras. I'm passionate about deep-tech innovations in soft and active...
Chandra Shekaraaya Namah Om: The Sacred Om Namah Shivaya Chant
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Skyfaring In Luxor, Egypt: A Sunrise Hot Air Balloon Ride Over the Valley of the Kings
At 5am, we got ready for our sunrise hot air balloon ride. We were each handed a small bag of breakfast items to take with us at the lobby of our cruise. A few of us ate a muffin or a slice of bread but were mostly not hungry at that early. We were then picked up by a...
Chopra Is a Construct. Epstein’s Crimes Are Real.
The Business of Consciousness Constructs In one of the emails to Epstein, Deepak Chopra declares, “God is a Construct. Cute Girls are Real.” Yup, the self help Guru Deepak Chopra features in Epstein emails over 3000 times. And this is just one of the few...
The Evolution of Love: Marriage, Survival, and Personal Reinvention in a Changing World
A Society Experiences Growing Pains I took this picture of a wall hanging in the lobby of a hotel we were staying at in Granada, Spain. Somehow, the couples whose heads are disintegrating felt like a fitting image for the essay on marriage I was writing. I’ve...
The Prophet and the Poet: Tupac’s Humanity, Legacy, and Why His Words Still Heal Generations
For the longest time, until it just became too dirty for me to wear, I would wear my Tupac shirt whenever I had to run an errand or just take Yogi, our dog, out for a walk. I can't find a picture of mine readily, but I’ll update this space once I find one of me...
I Walked In as a Tourist and Left Feeling Like I Belonged Somewhere I’d Never Been Before
Selling Our Soul to The Arts I arrived in SFO as a tourist, but the moment I walked into SFMOMA, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, it felt like I belonged there. I was suddenly in the company of over 50,000 artists’ works. The Grand Atrium’s minimalist...












