Painting new beginnings, taking a long walk, and coming home

Adventures of the week gone by

I am writing from my room at my parents' house in Noida. We recently moved here. I reached Noida yesterday after a 12-hour-long bus ride from my home in Himachal.

I miss Bir a lot. So much so that even looking out of the window makes me sad. I am so used to seeing the mountains every morning that the sight of other buildings and artificial parks doesn't appeal to me now.

Sure, I am getting the most amazing food here courtesy of my parents and enjoying the convenience of Swiggy and Zomato, but nothing can match the feeling of waking up to the mountains and breathing fresh mountain air.

I hope my mother doesn't read the above lines; she will be mad!

In the last 36 hours at home, I have eaten my weekly calorie intake, and I am not complaining. My father got the best fruits, dry fruits, and sweets for me, while my mother made all my favourite dishes. All my efforts to convince them that I am just here for their love are falling flat. They know I am here for them, but to them, food is their love language. While I write this, I seem to be observing everything from a third-person perspective, and it feels beautiful. I am grateful to have such wonderful parents.

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Now, reminiscing about the last week in Bir: A few days back, I left my home at noon for a long walk. I was getting a bit fed up with spending so much time at home while the ever-changing weather produced the most amazing landscapes around me.
On Friday, I left home to go for a walk.

I packed my Kindle, a notebook, a pen, and my phone, and wandered around the small villages near Bir. When I left home, the sky was blue, and the monsoon clouds had taken a break. But upon my return, the clouds were back, taking over the entire sky as if making up for their absence.
Here are some photographs from the walk. Hope you enjoy them.

While I am not the most active person, physical activity makes me feel alive and rejuvenated. This 3-hour walk made me incredibly grateful for my life in Bir and revitalized me. I am glad to live so close to such spots.

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This week, I completed 10 editions of Creative Writing Laboratory. What started as an experiment to offer writing spaces to curious writers continues to be the same!

Creative Writing Laboratory is and always will be an effort to offer safe, empathetic, and creative spaces for curious people wanting to experience and experiment with tools of writing and creativity.

Now that the 10th Edition is concluded, I hope to soon roll out another small batch and longer program where I will work with a select number of writers, and we will create spaces routinely to write and create.
Have you attended any of the Creative Writing Laboratory calls? Are you interested?

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An artist friend of mine, Rachanachar, just dropped his amazing new song called “New Beginnings”. Since Pranjal (Rachanachar) lives in Bir, I got a chance to attend the music launch last month.
During the launch, the host asked everyone about their new beginnings in life.
I answered a bit hesitantly:

I recently ordered a small easel, acrylic paints, a drawing book, and a few paintbrushes. It has been my dream since college to learn to paint. However, I was always afraid of facing the empty canvas. When I moved to Bir, I ordered these supplies to practice art in solitude and silence. Yet, while the supplies arrived within a week, they remained shut in my cupboard for 4-5 months. My new beginning would be to paint. Just paint. Not necessarily well, but to paint. I want to create bad paintings and bad art rather than nothing at all.

I shared this a month back, yet my supplies stayed within the cupboard walls.

It wasn’t until I met an artist friend in Bir who helped me overcome my procrastination and fear that I started creating art. Before I introduce you to the artist as part of the Artist Lounge series, let me show you the paintings she helped me create.

For this week’s Artist Lounge:

I am honoured to present Mohita, an incredible artist, a dear friend and a good art teacher too. You can find her work here.
You may check out her shop here where she updates her paintings for sale.

The Artist Lounge stems from my long-held dream of documenting the lives of artists.

Mohita and I have known each other for the past two years. We met for the second time in Bir. When I visited her home, which doubles as her studio, I was surprised to see her entire house full of paintings, paintbrushes, and other art materials. She was in the process of creating a painting. While I thought I came at a special time to see an artist at work, she told me this was her everyday routine.

It made complete sense. An artist must paint every day, and a writer must write every day. While I praised her and her work, I felt guilty thinking of my shortcomings as an artist. I shared this with her, and she agreed that one has to live, drink, eat, and breathe art to fully venture into it. That evening, seeing many of her paintings moved me. But what truly inspired me was her dedication to her art. I hope to be as disciplined and honest with my work as Mohita is. Thank you, Mohita, for allowing me to document and share your story.

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As a feature of all my newsletters, I share one song, one book, one plant-based meal, one film/video that inspired me, and some photographic updates from my life.

• Song: "New Beginnings" by my friend and musician Rachanachar. An amazing person and a brilliant artist. The entire video was shot and edited within 10 days by my friends in Bir. Check out the video and listen to the song; I am sure you will enjoy it.

• Book: Still reading "The Right to Write" by Julia Cameron, a brilliant writer and creativity coach. It is helping with my writing motivation and discipline.

• Meal: A plate of Cholle Chawal that I made a few days back.

• Film/Video: I rewatched a video by my favorite writer and artist, Austin Kleon, author of the bestseller "Steal Like an Artist."

• Photograph: Here is a photograph from last week (other than those I took on the walk).

Hope you have a brilliant day and week ahead. Thank you for reading.