Hey, welcome to my corner of the internet! Here we are all about bringing people together through the awesome power of words. Okay, that sounds cheesy but, I mean, have you ever thought about it? The written word is like the ultimate connector, transcending all kinds of social, political, and cultural boundaries. So, I built this space to share my love for writing and literature.

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It all started at the beginning of Junior year. Believe it or not (I know I didn't. Not really), high school can be a lot. So in an effort to maintain a good school-life balance, I decided to try something new. Something that I'd always wanted to do. I started writing a book. A few things resulted from this new habit.

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Firstly, I became aware of just how amazing writing is. Like, I can write a few sentences on a piece of paper, fold it up, and keep it in a box, and decades, or even centuries later, someone can read what I wrote long after I'm gone and picture exactly what I had been thinking. That's extremely cool.

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Secondly, the novel was a fantasy book and as I started writing, I found myself becoming more and more focused on the inner turmoils of the characters, and less on their outer struggles. I began conducting research (or more accurately a deep dive into the internet) into what conditions led to the development of certain psychological behaviors or personality traits in my characters. As I fell into this rabbit hole, the all-knowing algorithm that is my YouTube feed led me to creators I hadn't watched in a while. I started watching SciShow, Film Theory, CGP Grey, and Mark Rober in my free time and always found their videos fascinating. Why? Because, while all these creators focused on varying topics, they all presented their information in a fun and engaging way. And most importantly, they were passionate about what they did, and it rubbed off on me. I started wanting to learn more and more about what was happening in the scientific world because I was being introduced to discoveries I didn't know were possible, and they gave me a better, more hopeful outlook on our future.

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Lastly, It was around this time that I started becoming more curious about spirituality. Of my friends, some were getting confirmed, and many went to church regularly. Others seemed to have such strong spiritual identities, be they Atheists, Christians, Jews, Muslims, Hindus, or something else. In contrast, while my family is Sikh, religion had never played a huge role in my upbringing. After a death in my family, I started to think perhaps I should amend that. I was curious about what my religion, Sikhism, says would happen to my loved one after death. I also believed that, while I didn't need to be religious, I should learn about my religion before deciding if that faith was something I needed in my life. The only problem was, most Sikh religious texts are written in Punjabi, a language that, while I can understand minimally when spoken, is lost on me when it comes to reading and writing. So, through painstaking hours spent learning the Gurmukhi alphabet, and countless more on Google Translate or flipping through a bilingual dictionary, I began to translate the Ravidas Baani, beautiful poetry written by Guru Ravidas to his God that taught equality for all and happiness for the moral. These teachings, not only resonated with me but can be found in religions all over the world.

 

I think this goes to show the connection of humans born and raised in different cultures and so the idea of translating these texts was born. I wanted my translations to preserve the meaning and soul behind the original Punjabi verses. I thought of a way to share, not only the Baani, but my scientific learnings and writings with the world, and this website was born. So let's celebrate the beauty of written expression, spark some conversations, and just soak in the richness of human experiences. There is something here for everyone!