About Me

Profile

About: People, persons, and things! I was born in the same year Woody and Buzz Light Year became friends in Riverside, California. Moving to and living in India for three years of my life has shaped my character in more ways than can be imagined. I have had the fortune in being imbibed in the context of the culture I was raised in. Growing up, I was taught everything from habits like touch my parents’ feet in the morning (as expression of love and respect) to using minimal resources to finding my way around streets of Bombay to finding and binding my own books for school. Until my sophomore year of college, I survived without owning a license, car, and smart phone!

There are a few people I hold dear to my heart: my sister, my father, and my mother. Even though none of the three can complete my sentence at any given time and we all have varying perspectives on every other issue we discuss, each one of them have molded me into the easily excitable and wide-eyed child I am today. My sister, with her radical support for all free-spirited things, has turned me into a music loving and adventurous. She’s taught me that every adventure, no matter how seemingly insignificant is made better with a companion. My father, having raised me as a single parent for half my life, to this day, impresses me with his dedication to helping the people around him lead healthier lives. Owning a pharmacy in an underprivileged area, he has selflessly dedicated himself, with me by his side to improve the community around him by holding health fairs and day-camps for children in the summer. Lastly, my mother has shown me to treat all persons with unconditional respect and has supported every one of my whims and endeavors (especially those involving drinking frappucinos and faloodas at 1 in the morning).

That brings me to today: third year neuroscience (with a computer science certificate), likes slam poetry, TedX, food and expression of emotion through art. I love everything about Austin’s urban nooks and its nature friendliness and I hope to, one day soon, complete the 50 Things Austin Bucket list from Etsy. With no clue as to what I will be doing with my life, I’d love to do something that helps me capture the essence of the human experience. To me, everything that deals with what makes us go from humans as a species to people as interconnected stars in a galaxy is utterly fascinating; i.e. from what makes people cry thinking of the past to what makes people crave chocolate in the middle of the day is utterly fascinating to me.

~Email me, call me, text me! My ears are open, because your story and your friendship is just important to me~

Why I Ride

I rode in memory of Binita Mehta; I rode for Debarshee Dasgupta; I rode for Sureka Shah; I rode for my teammate Riddhi Patodia and her family.

Over the course of the ride, the people I met and the stories I heard empowered me to finish a journey that had challenged me in every way possible. If you are a generous family that donated to my team's lofty fundraising goal, a friend that showered me with encouragement and food, or a family or church that hosted me and my team for one seemingly short night on our 70 day journey, my lifelong friends and I are indebted to you for an experience that was so enriching, so meaningful, and so powerful. If you are currently battling or have survived, my prayers and hopes are with you. If you have outlived a loved one, my hope is that your grief morphs into strength and hope and you empower yourself to live for him/her/them. In most ways, I cannot feel your physical and emotional pain or your grief and loss, but I urge you to seek out a friend or family member that can help you get through the tough time you are facing.