Last summer, at four in the morning, I found myself on a beautiful Aegean island, in the dark bedroom of an Ionian villa, with moonlight fluttering in through sheer curtains that generously ushered a gentle, cooling wind towards me. I lay sprawled on the bed, head propped up, phone in[Read More…]
Off the Board
Blindsided by Rational Irrationality
I’ve always found a sense of comfort in routines. Even if they are sometimes dull, the structures that construct my daily life add an extra layer of padding to my occasionally rocky university experience. This extends from my regular breakfast of two years—fried egg on top of avocado toast, slathered[Read More…]
Escaping into the city
As much as I would like to pretend that I am a Romantic-era poet, lingering in vast fields and haunting pastoral landscapes, I have always been more comfortable in the city. Whether it’s the steady hum of car engines or the distant chatter of people on their daily commute, I[Read More…]
When memories lie in Soviet apartment blocks
As a kid, I remember driving back from the Moscow airport with my family, preparing for another summer in Russia, and refamiliarizing myself with the city after being away for a year. Looking out the window, my childish, curious gaze was often confused by the differences between architectural styles across[Read More…]
The risk I took was calculated, but man, am I bad at math
In middle school, I spent objectively too much time reading dystopian Young Adult fiction novels and watching rom-coms from the 1990s and 2000s, which have now left me with a questionable repertoire of references and an insatiable taste for casual insurgency. I’ve never considered my attempts at nonconformity as dangerous[Read More…]
No, you’re not OCD for liking things organized
Content warning: Mentions of mental illness and descriptions of intrusive thoughts and compulsions I was 17 when I finally started to seek help for my obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). The signs had been there for a long time, but it took me receiving a proper diagnosis to realize the scale at[Read More…]
I’m so tired of being a person of colour
It’s a thought that fills me with unparalleled shame. As soon as it forms, I want to bury it. But as I sit with my friends, at home, at work, I feel the burden of existing as a radical act, as political praxis: The thought creeps back in. How do[Read More…]
My body is not the enemy
Content Warning: Mentions of disordered eating I started running competitively when I was eight years old. My earliest memory from that year is a race with my dad where I was kicking toward the finish, shouting, “I can’t feel my legs!” Let me tell you, as a runner who too[Read More…]
Remembering Ammi’s Saree
Content Warning: Mention of death and loss of a family member July 21, 2021, was the only day I ever wore my Nani’s (maternal grandmother’s) saree. After years of putting off the theme, my family finally committed to wearing sarees on Eid Al-Fitr. While one of my cousins bought hers[Read More…]
Reclaiming the value in being “undecided”
If you ask any of my friends at McGill, they would tell you that I have switched around my majors and minors eight times since the beginning of my degree. I started as an Environment & Development and International Development Studies (IDS) double major with a History minor. Throughout my[Read More…]
