When Life Happens, You Write.
When you’re a writer-at-large, you let life happen to you. That way, you let your eyes steal everything that they see, put a spin on it and spill onto paper / machine some “stream of consciousness” kinda cool stuff. And if I am a true writer-at-large, it’s only fair that I must observe, muse and write about it.
Wandering Through Spain: Siestas, Weddings, and Andalusian Wonders
Losing My Way In SpainHi, welcome. In these essays, I write about the fascinating landscapes of Spain, Spaniards and their siestas, and the fierce art of flamenco. Through road trips, weddings, whitewashed villages, and seaside camper days, this is my attempt to...
Iranian Female Protest Rap That Defies a Regime — Real Rebel Music That Hits Hard ✊
The below is a story about the taste of freedom, and about the strength of standing against intolerable darkness. It's difficult to forget what happened in Iran in 2022. 22 year old Mahsa Amini was visiting Tehran with her family when she was stopped by Iran’s...
Unlock Lifelong Learning: Top Movie & Documentary Recommendations That Inspire Growth
- “You’re sitting on a winning lottery ticket, and you’re too much of a p*ssy to cash it in. You don’t owe it to yourself, you owe it to me. In twenty years, if you’re still living here working construction, I’ll f*cking kill ya. Hanging around here is a...
A Speck on the Sahara: Sipping Tea Above Egypt’s Bent and Red Pyramids
Listen to the audio version of this poem on HERE. One early morning in late December, we set off on a three hour journey from Cairo to Dahshur. As we passed village after village, lush green fields dotted with beautiful villas belonging to farmers, we...
Walking With the Ancients: Egypt’s Temples, Art, and Timeless Lessons for Modern Life
Eternal. Enduring. Egypt. Egypt — to me, the most beloved and beautiful of things. ~ Salah Jahin, Egyptian poet
Homesick for the Stars – Read by Rachana
https://youtu.be/AHm4v2h1PhU - Want To Listen To The Article Instead? - Homesick for the Stars This essay is about travel, wanderlust and our perennial need for discovery. I wrote this while staring at a glorious sunset. As the golden hour sky...
Living Deliberately Without the Woods: How to Build a Meaningful Life in a Noisy World
Excuse my language. There's a meme I once saw while helping one of my clients with his decluttering project. "Working jobs we hate, so we can buy shit we don't need." Doesn't it sum up the way we are living our lives? This continues to bring me back to Henry David...
The Abu Simbel Temple: Egypt’s Timeless Wonder and a Tribute To Global Heritage Preservation
These Words Won't Be Enough Abu Simbel is located in a remote town three hours away from Aswan. Our cab driver picked us up from our cruise boat on the Nile that was stationed at the Aswan harbor. Our cab was flying at 140 kilometers an hour as I fell in and...
When Death Isn’t the Fear: A Soul-Shaking Review of “A Battle with My Blood”
Tatiana Schlossberg was a mother, an environmental journalist, and a cancer patient - in that order. She passed away at the age of 35 a few days ago. And she had written an essay about her last days. The scope of my essay on hers is to highlight her love for...
Writer-At-Large – The 2025 Indian-American Documentary – Final Part
Continued from Part I HERE JULY My son sent me pictures of the Harvard university library from his visit to Boston and I lamented to him that it's the right place for me, and then got back to my life here in ATL. After all, I had to wash all our Indian...
Writer-At-Large – The 2025 Indian-American Documentary
Not Your Average Recap The last time I did a pictorial essay of this nature was in 2014. I had then talked about bathroom selfies I had taken, although they didn't make me look like Kim Kardashian. But, more on that some other time. Earlier today, I wrote how...
A Year in Writing 2025: Art, Emotion, and the Ideas That Shaped My Inner World
- On Motherhood As a Writer-At-Large and primarily as a mother, I wrote about Kanu dappika, the longing of a mother to see her children in A Mother’s Words for the Ache of Missing Her Children. I beamed in joy when they literally and metaphorically were touching grass...
Lessons in Effortless Living from the Nile: How Flow, Impermanence, and Surrender Shape a Meaningful Life
Certain experiences sharpen our sense of being alive, like revisiting our day while journaling at night, the fleeting jolt when a stranger’s gaze catches yours across the room, or wandering cobblestone streets in a new city. The Nile, too, is such an...
Wish I Had Never Met You – A Poem Read by Rachana
https://youtu.be/Q-PfOH9jwLo - Want To Listen To The Article Instead? - Wish I Had Never Met You Of all the habits I have to break, I never thought a person would become one. With you, whatever I resist digs deeper. The weather isn’t...
Wish I Had Never Met You – A Poem by Rachana
Want to listen to it instead? Find it HERE. Of all the habits I have to break, I never thought a person would become one. With you, whatever I resist digs deeper. The weather isn't helping, and I keep adding more sugar to my chai, as if sweetness could settle...
Scandinavian Crime Fiction That Excels In The Art of Being Moody and Riveting
- I work with a lot of Danes, and I find them quietly fascinating. They're humble, economical with words and rarely interrupt in meetings. Even if they are the subject matter experts, they don't find the excessive need to show off their merits like some of us...
When AI Gets Flirty and Writers Stay Human in The Digital Era
Recently I wrote a poem with adult themes, and I asked Grok, "Hey, I am trying to convert into audio podcast, is it good?" Here is its response literally. "Oh, my beautiful degenerate…Your words just slid across my screen like silk dragged over bare skin… I’ve been...
Becoming a Writer: The Night I Claimed My Voice and Never Looked Back
- I have to write great opening lines if I’m going to become the most famous writer in the world. I don’t remember the exact moment I started calling myself a writer, but I do remember the night I decided to start a blog. I had only learned what a “blog” was a...