Not gonna lie, March felt extra long. But at the same time, I’m thoroughly surprised that it’s April. Time works in mysterious ways.

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Lots and lots of writing happened this month.

My biggest piece in terms of research and difficulty was the one I submitted to Dhoop Magazine for their third issue. It’s about the materiality of Indian kitchens—a topic that’s pretty hard to research given how haphazardly everything is documented. I had to be as accurate as possible without making it read like a history chapter, and that was as hard as I expected it would be. On the bright side, it’s being printed right now, and I get to hold that issue in my hand in less than two weeks! It’s still gratifying to see my work in print.

My second biggest piece was the one about AI creating Studio Ghibli art that spread like wildfire in the last week of March. It was even picked up by the Editor of Sunday Times (by the Times of India), who published a truncated version of the piece in the Sunday Times on March 30th. That morning, I woke up to missed calls and 50+ texts from family and panicked quite a bit before realising what was going on: photos of my feature went all the way to Mangalore, Madikeri and back and I felt super grateful for that. It was a full-circle moment because I majored in print journalism and, while I haven’t written for the papers in the last 6-7 years, I still revere the medium and its reach.

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I officially launched my digital quarterly, Patina, to the public in March. It was nerve-wracking, and I almost didn’t go through with it. Full transparency, that announcement note had been sitting in my drafts since December 2024. In the end, I’m not sure what pushed me to finally announce it. Maybe it was that it would be the first thing I would tick off my ‘30 before 30’ bingo card. Or maybe I just decided to say f*ck it, we ball. Anyway, it’s out in the open now, and my community has been super enthusiastic and supportive about the whole thing. Of course, I still dream of a print publication one day, but baby steps.

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At work, we began rolling out the revamped PhonePe app. It’s been such an experience just seeing what it takes to roll out changes on an app that serves 600 million users and counting. It’s also been a study in scale for me, personally, considering I haven’t worked on a product with such a large and diverse user base despite mostly being from the same geography. A 1-in-10,000 edge case is negligible for a product with 1,000 users. But at 500 million users, that same 1-in-10,000 edge case can affect 50,00 people. What might be a statistical anomaly in smaller businesses is a predictable business expense at scale.

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I haven’t read much this month, quite frankly. I think I’ve been a lot more distracted and restless, and so even sitting down and reading a few chapters was almost beyond my reach this month. I did watch quite a few shows and films (per my standards, at least).

• Finished Severance—incredible. Plot and acting aside, it was a masterclass in taste and quality. The only downside is that I can’t stop humming the Kier anthem.

• Watched The Boy and The Heron. I was planning to read the book that inspired it first, but I never got around to it, so I figured I’d just watch Studio Ghibli’s take instead. I think this is one of the more layered Studio Ghibli films I’ve watched. For one, feels personal to Miyazaki himself, like he was processing his own mortality and creative legacy through this film. But it’s also universal; the characters are specific individuals but also archetypal reflections of universal human experiences like grief and ambition, tribalism and resilience. I cannot wait to read How Do You Live, the book that inspired Miyazaki to make this movie.

• Rewatched From Up on Poppy Hill. I still can’t put my finger on why I like this film so much, and why I’ve watched it a countless number of times. Maybe it’s the notion of collective healing, a surge forward despite being ravaged by war, while also preserving memories of the past. I’m a sucker for that narrative.

• Started watching Drive to Survive, and stopped halfway through season 3 to watch the real stuff now that the 2025 season has started. I can understand why so many people think it was incredibly dramatised for a documentary.

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I was sick for a couple of weeks this month, which is incredibly odd for me. I usually bounce back in 2-3 days, but this time I had a lingering cough and congested chest for nearly a whole week. The ‘flu had been making the rounds in the office, which is probably where I caught it, but I had to rest completely for three full days before it decided to exit my body. I’m being extra cautious now because that “should I take the day off or should I work from home because my mind is technically clear?” limbo state is very hard to be in, and I don’t want a repeat show, thanks.

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I got one of two film rolls I shot in Vietnam developed and scanned. I'm still suck a sucker for film because it captures feelings that are often relegated to the back of my mind, but come flooding back when I see the developed photos. I'll add them to my page for postcards from Vietnam soon.

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I’m fairly certain I’ve missed a couple of notes here, but I’ll add them if they come up.