During my most impressionable years it was recommended to me that my family weave our lives in the colonial fabric of English. My Indian community told me that our mother tongues had no value. The message was delivered at dinner parties on Friday evenings, prayer services at the Temple, picnics…

*Please reach out to me on Instagram @shweeze. Special thanks to Colin Kimzey and Tasha Patel for their edits, input, and friendship. “Not everything that is faced can be changed; but nothing can be changed until it is faced.” — James Baldwin There is no place in the world like…

By Aishwarya Vardhana IG: @shweeze In collaboration with Eni Asebiomo, Colin Kimzey, Siddhant Madhuk, Jelani Munroe, and Meghana Rao. “In the Akan culture of western Africa there is the symbol of the sankofa, a bird reaching back to retrieve the past to use in the way forward — this is…

I am constantly and consistently amazed while in the presence of another. I am aware, moment to moment, of the miracle that is presence.

I have a home in India. She welcomes me as her own. Summer after summer I returned to the warm crook of her arm. When she first heard the accented assault of my English, she did not drop me in surprise, but instead held me closer and filled my days and nights with familiar…

My breathing comes infrequently and slowly, lest the air swirling in my lungs carry out the secrets in my heart. The pale pink walls of my house are silent, they have nothing to say to their bright green neighbors. My pink listens to her green walls. Being her neighbor is like watching someone…

Wow this is amazing I can very easily publish something on Medium. Desi food for Desi folks