Non-Essentials
I made this website/ started writing this blog for two reasons. The first is to help connect with people. Most especially my family, relatives and friends. Moving to another country was an exciting adventure in the beginning and it still is in many ways. However, I did not anticipate how disconnected I would become from the people I grew up with. Life goes on; for me and for everyone else. With every passing year I’m afraid we grow more distant from each other. This is a small attempt to mitigate that. A way for me to share who I am and what I’ve become. The second reason I am doing this is because I can. I have really come to enjoy making creative things, be it writing, art or sport. I see this as a way for me to creatively express myself and share the things that I love.
Delft, has been my home for most of my adult life so far. I find inspiration in the city of Delft and the communities that developed around here. I have found plenty of opportunity for sport, art and culture. You can see my paintings published in two issues of Hesiodos. I climb often, usually in indoor bouldering halls and outdoors a few times a year. I was part of D.S.T Pegasus (a gymnastics club) and won a few medals in the student competitions. I also helped run a discussion club in the TU Delft library for a couple of years.
Art
I got into water color painting in school but I did not pursue it for another 8 years. I found time during my masters in Delft to get into it again. I started with fan art and quickly moved onto portraits. I experimented with color to convey emotion. I also found emphasizing proportions to have rather curious effects. Now, I’m trying to explore new things with digital media. Using a wacom was like learning to write, but I’m beginning to get familiar with the medium. My magazine `Metal 2018’ was a passion project of writing, music and design (more details in the blog).
Bouldering
Bouldering offers me a customized sense of challenge. I’ve been involved in competitive sports since I was in school, but bouldering is unique as it is a competition with myself. I find it rewarding to spend a few weeks working towards sending a route. The community around bouldering is very positive and I find the atmosphere of a bouldering hall motivating. When the weather is good, I cant wait to go outdoors and into the wild.
Gymnastics
Gymnastics is not a commonly pursued sport in India and I had never imagined I would like it as much as I did. The club was predominantly Dutch and I was eager to soak myself in the culture shock. It was a wildly exciting experience. I felt a sense of solidarity with the others as we traveled to compete at the other universities in the Netherlands. I won my first competition after almost a year, I was so tired I barely smiled for the photo.
VOX Delft
VOX Delft is an organization that hosts weekly discussions in the TU Delft library. I worked for the board for 2 years and I was the president in 2019. TU Delft attracts a lot of people from many different places and I found it an educational experience to view things from vastly different perspectives. We collaborated with many groups on events, attended film festivals and visited museums. Interacting with so many people who’s lives were all tied to this city and TU Delft, was quite humbling.
