Dispatches from Kathmandu: Day 1 and 2 It has only been thirty hours since I landed in Kathmandu, but it honestly feels like three full days. The moment I stepped off the plane, I knew exactly where I had to go first: to see Linga Bhairavi Devi. I was right here three years ago when she was consecrated, and it only felt right to pay my respects to Her before anything else. Once I checked into the hotel, the logistical gears immediately started turning. We received our officia

In the thirty-five years of my life, I have been broken many times. Externally, what you might read next, might not look like the most catastrophic situation out there. If you look at it from the outside, it’s just a series of small, annoying inconveniences. But internally? This has been the most soul-crushing, exhausting five days of my life. Yatras are notoriously designed to break you down, but this is the first time I’ve realized what it truly means to have to leave so ma

I'll be honest: I kind of despise the word "spiritual". It’s been so overtly misused, packaged, and romanticized that it has almost lost its meaning. We’ve turned it into just another aesthetic. Someone grows their hair long, someone loops a specific count of rudraksha around their neck, someone wears a certain ring, someone applies kumkum in a very precise geometric shape, someone switches entirely to linen or unbleached cotton, someone shaves off their head, someone meticul

They say when you decide to do a Purascharana, you’re basically inviting the deity to clear out your life. And trust me, Maha Ganapati doesn't use a broom. He uses a sledgehammer. For context: In Tantra sadhana, a Purascharana isn't just a casual daily prayer. It’s an intense, highly structured vow where you commit to chanting a mantra a massive number of times - usually 100,000 repetitions (a lakh) within a strict timeframe, followed by specific fire rituals (homam), water o

I have always believed that you don’t visit Kamakhya; the Goddess decides when it is time for you to arrive. For years, I had longed to go, but the gates remained closed. Then, the "Timing" began to move through a stranger on Instagram...a singer who had bought my art and, in a casual conversation about Devi, whispered the invitation: "You should definitely go." Two days later, the logistics fell into place. Her husband, Mukund, was traveling in two weeks; I could join him. I

Six years ago, I was looking for an artist name...not just an Instagram handle, but a vibration. I found "Layasthana" in a Sanskrit glossary by Swami Sivananda. The moment I saw it, I knew it was mine. “A place of dissolution,” it said. I immediately checked; no one else had claimed it. I changed my handle, started signing off as Layasthana, and settled into the name. But a name like that doesn’t stay quiet. A year later, I dug deeper and found a definition on Wisdom Library

Ten years ago, the Spanda Hall at the Isha Yoga Center was filled with the charged, festive energy of a social evening. I was new to this path, standing at the edge of the crowd, caught between a deep longing and a primal fear. A fire Theyyam performance was happening...a towering, rhythmic force of red and flame and I had always been terrified of it. I stayed far away, trying to remain invisible, yet my heart was vibrating with a single desire: I wanted to "steal a glance" f

They say you don’t choose Devi; She chooses you. And if you’re stubborn like me, She’ll use whatever means necessary to get you where you need to be, including a friend, a last-minute cancellation, and a perfectly timed "coincidence." In my previous post, I wrote about the "striking" sound in my bones and my intense desire to finally step into the Kalari pit. For years, I’ve felt Kalaripayattu running in my blood. It never felt like a new hobby; it felt like a practice I had

For as long as I can remember, I’ve been haunted by a striking sound. It wasn't a sound in my ears, but a resonance in my bones. Whenever I heard the word "Urumi", the lethal, flexible whip-sword of the Kerala masters, something inside me would snap to attention. For years, I carried a quiet, stubborn conviction: I am a Kshatriya. I didn't have a textbook to prove it; I just felt it in my discipline, my sense of honour, and my refusal to back down. It wasn't until today that

AI is advancing, but intuition is our edge. By sharpening perception and awareness, we embrace what makes us truly human.

Lal Ded, Laya, and the script she may have written in "Sharada". A research spiral I never saw coming, but now I can't stop unraveling it.

For almost a decade, my life revolved around a spiritual path. It shaped everything, how I dressed, how I spoke, the people I surrounded myself with, even the art I created. It wasn’t just an influence, it was me. Or at least, I thought it was. But when I recently tried to step away from it, I felt lost. It was like pulling a thread and watching the whole fabric of my identity unravel. If I wasn’t this person, then who was I? I always believed that spirituality was about dis

Ghibli-style AI art proves one thing - art still has deep appeal. The question isn’t AI vs artists, but how artists evolve and stay ahead.