Not another 'September Dump'!

The Monthly Muse: A gratitude note for listening to my monologues, and hoping that the Universe sprinkles a little stardust on all our dreams!

My Instagram feed is filled with ‘September Dump’ posts already, and I consumed too much of it, to break free from that! I’ve spent the last hour and a half reflecting on how to bring all my thoughts together for this newsletter.

Well, I would like to begin by saying THANK YOU! From thinking, “Why would anyone even want to read my newsletter?” to now having 167 views and 22 subscribers, it’s been quite the journey in just a month.

What touched me even more were the messages from some of you on WhatsApp and Instagram, sharing how my post resonated with you (you know who you are!) and honestly, those messages made my day.

September passed by the wink of an eye, faster than I thought it would. 

Remember when I mentioned Khyati (who came into my life out of nowhere and pulled me into living my wildest dream) in my last newsletter? Well, we’re hosting our first group trip together this October, taking an incredible group of women to South Korea. So, September has been all about sorting every little thing and locking down the logistics. We’ve spent countless hours over Google Meet, making sure that we have it all in place before we board the flights!

And of course, the most important part - getting the South Korea visa!

As a traveler, I’m not a person who plans things to the T - usually, I tend to go with the flow. But planning these group trips has opened me up to a whole new way of approaching things.

It’s been unexpectedly fulfilling to realize that someone else’s holiday depends on us and the experiences we create for them. That sense of responsibility and joy has been with me throughout the month, and I have a feeling it will stay for a while.

With all these and a bunch of other freelance writing work, I managed to squeeze in a quick trip to Kashmir with Pishi. Although beautiful as always, Pahalgam caught me off guard with its weather—and I’m not exaggerating, the days were HOT. It was Pishi’s first trip to ‘The Heaven on Earth,’  and she kept questioning if we were in the right parts of Kashmir, and “Why was the weather as hot as Delhi?” - I had no answer!

It makes me sad to think of how global warming has become such a real thing, and there’s no way to escape it now. All we can do is try to be kinder to the planet, to prevent things from getting worse.

Other than these, September was quite low-key and I got to spend a lot of time with myself. There were days when I ended up overthinking, with some thoughts that kept coming back to me - sometimes they were unsettling, but at the same time, they felt empowering. Moving away from a stable job and starting something new still feels overwhelming, but I suppose we all have to step out of our comfort zones at some point.

Here’s hoping that the Universe sprinkles a little stardust on all our dreams!

I did some fun things in the city this month, a couple of which I would definitely love to recommend.

My cousins took me to watch a play called Old World (starring Nasiruddin Shah and Ratna Pathak Shah), based on Russian playwright Aleksei Arbuzov’s famous work, and it was an absolutely beautiful performance.

I also attended the Candlelight Concerts, where they paid tribute to The Beatles, and it was pure soul-soothing magic. I fell in love with both the concept and the way the music echoed through the auditorium. Definitely worth attending!

I finished reading The Fearless Judge—a biography of Former CJI Justice Ahmadi, written by his granddaughter (who also happens to be my cousin❤️). It was not only a great read because I knew him personally, but also because the cases he handled, the political landscape of the ‘90s, and the significance of his judgments offered some profound insights into our country’s past.

Needless to say, it was a heavy read, and I took breaks in between, flipping through my South Korea Lonely Planet and bookmarking things that looked interesting to me!

Now with just a few hours left before it’s October, I’m sure many of you will play “Wake Me Up When September Ends” - and I won’t blame you! Green Day is love! Here’s to embracing the bliss of autumn, smelling ‘shiuli’, and manifesting all the good things for the days ahead!

P.S. If you enjoyed reading this, I’d be thrilled if you shared it with others—it would mean the world to me. And if you ever feel like you’d rather not receive this newsletter, just let me know, and I’ll remove you from the mailing list—no questions asked.