Small Win Wrapped in a Big Hug!

Six months ago, when I published the first issue of Vikra’s Café on February 26th, I was doubtful if anyone would be interested in reading my personal stories and perspectives.

I formed the entire narrative around treating the newsletter as my diary, available online for everyone to read. It made publishing easy.

Writing to impress, influence, or educate was never in the picture. It was always about expressing myself by sharing ideas/stories.

This is our 25th issue 🎂

I adore how the journey is transitioning beyond the creator-reader into a more meaningful connection. Thank you for travelling with me in the past six months.

I love reading your email replies. It makes me sooooo happy to know Vikra’s Café brings a smile to your face.

To more of these moments together! ✨♥️

Recreations

I like going through old photos. It calms me and makes my mood light. I don’t take many pictures, but I make sure I have one good picture with every moment I enjoy.

Photographs mean so much to me.

Last year in August, I met Aravind in a book club. We became good friends soon, and we started working from cafés once a week. (Read this issue for full context. It’s a beautiful story.)

Every week, we meet, work for a few hours, and then chill around.

On September 7th, 2022, we (Aravind, Sreekar, Vidya, and I) went to Waltair Coffee and did our usual Work from Café thing.

The owners came to us and said, “We have a Polaroid camera. We’d love to click a few pictures and give them to you in exchange for an Instagram Story.”

Fair deal, we thought, and clicked a few pictures.

I took this picture home, and it has stayed on my desk ever since:

A year later, on September 7th, 2023, we decided to recreate the picture.

We went to the same café with the same work from the café theme, had lunch at the same restaurant, wore the same clothes, and recreated the day almost perfectly.

In fact, even better than the last time.

This is how it turned out:

What do Recreations mean to me?

I usually like to recreate after a long gap: like five years. But our friendship snowballed so fast that one year felt like a long time and worth recreating.

These moments are reminders. They tell me people who were special to me years ago still mean something, and adulting has not separated us.

In a way, it’s a little celebration in itself.

Despite my love for recreation and pictures, I haven’t recreated as much (thanks to Vikra’s Café, now I am planning to.)

Here is one more from 2018 with my family friends. I’ve travelled a lot with them. This is from Andaman:

Between the last issue and this, life in pictures:

Write to me if you want to rant, talk, or share something interesting. Always up for a chat. See ya soon!