16th June to 22nd June 2025 (Monday to Sunday)

This week was not very hectic, but not too slow either. Overall, it was a good week, work-wise. On Monday and Tuesday, we spent time with the Nature Classroom team.

Nidhi visited Mumbai to facilitate a workshop. She felt very confident while facilitating the session and really enjoyed it. I felt so happy seeing her journey as a facilitator/educator. I’m so grateful to be a small part of her journey, and that she is part of mine.

On Saturday and Sunday, I spent time finishing small tasks that had been pending for a long time—giving feedback, replying to emails, and more.

I enjoyed working on my desk

I had a call with two of my friends to discuss their learning pathways and career paths. In the development sector—especially when you’re working with an NGO in the education space—your growth is not always predictable or linear. It’s not like the corporate world, where you get promotions at regular intervals. What if you want to remain an educator, continue working directly with children, and still grow in other aspects of life—money, new skills, new kinds of learning, or new types of projects? What if you don’t see “Project Manager” as your next goal? What should a growth pathway look like that gives you enough challenges to stay inspired, helps you feel meaning in your work, and shifts as you move through different life phases?

I have developed a questionnaire for personal reflection. Whenever I consider changing my job / taking new project, I ask myself these questions. This time, I shared them with friends who are also looking for clarity and new ideas. Let’s see if it helps. Let me know if you’re interested in a framework to think about your next move—I’d be happy to share it. We can even have a one-on-one call to brainstorm and explore together.

This framework includes reflecting on your personal philosophy / values, strengths, interests, learning aspirations, financial needs, and cultural/social/emotional needs. It’s also useful for documenting your past work and building your portfolio.

I’ve been sharing some thoughts on self-directed learning and portfolio-making with the Sanjhe Sapne team. We’re having weekly learning calls, and I’m enjoying them so much.

I’m also working with the YouCAN – Earth Educator Fellows, sharing my insights about working with children and developing programs. I’m learning a lot from each one of them. As an alum of this fellowship, I feel very grateful for the opportunity to stay connected with like-minded and like-hearted people.

A big part of my work revolves around:

• Sharing tools and creating environments for self-directed learning

I feel the need to start documenting my frameworks and ideas—maybe that will be the topic for my next blog post.

Sakha Fellowship Updates :

Sakhaz are working on two projects. One is an inquiry project around rural/village issues. They’ve prepared a survey form and visited a village near Waghodia. The second project is about interviewing unsung heroes. They started by interviewing a 100-year-old masi who runs a sev-usal shop in Vadodara.

We both feel so happy seeing the updates, but unfortunately, we haven’t been able to engage with the Sakhaz in person. We only get Saturdays and Sundays off — and those are usually packed with our other project meetings, home maintenance work, and a bit of downtime. That’s also when the Sakha team meets in Vadodara.

Technically, Vadodara is just 3 hours away, but it takes us 1 hour just to get to a place from where we can catch a bus. We’d need to leave work early on Friday evening, and we don’t have a place to stay in Vadodara either. So, all of this makes it really difficult… but we’ll find a way to join in somehow.

We really miss the energy and connection with the Sakhaz.

The rest of the week was mostly filled with office work. This week was also filled with some existential questions— Is my work worth doing? Am I on the right path? What is my relationship with money, and with my employer?

I don’t know why, but I feel like I’m in a phase of life where my ambitions to “make it big” or “be successful” in the conventional sense are getting quieter. I’m okay with slow and small now. What’s calling me more is building meaningful relationships—with peers, friends, partner, family, the larger ecosystem and support system. I want to invest in that, rather than chasing individual success. Supporting friends in finding their paths, doing projects together, sharing ideas, contacts, networks, resources—without guarding them. Meeting people without agendas. Just being grateful and feeling enough—for who I am and who others are.

I’m slowly becoming less aggressive about pushing my own ideas—trying to learn the art of listening, of understanding other perspectives.

Over the last few months—conflicts at home, changing dynamics at work, and the deepening of my relationship with my partner—have all changed me. Maybe it’s just age.I have turned 30 this May.

I was also feeling anxious during parts of this week because of some work tasks, but somehow I managed. Writing and journaling help—they slow down my thoughts and help me feel calm.

I’m considering therapy to work on my overall mental health, which has been affected by multiple things over the past few months.

Anyway… it was a good week.

On Sunday, I watched an old Marathi web series and listened to some beautiful, slow Hindi and Marathi songs.

Rain has started in Ahmedabad:

Gulmohar and copper pod flowers will soon be gone…

I remembered this beautiful poem by my dear friend Hemant Deolekar:

पेड़ों का अंतर्मन

हेमंत देवलेकर

–

कल मानसून की पहली बरसात हुई

और आज यह दरवाज़ा ख़ुशी से फूल गया है

खिड़की दरवाज़े महज़ लकड़ी नहीं हैं विस्थापित जंगल होते हैं

मुझे लगा, मैं पेड़ों के बीच से आता-जाता हूँ

टहनियों पर बैठता हूँ

पेड़ों की खोखल में रहती हैं किताबें

मैं, जंगल में घिरा हूँ

किंवदंतियों में रहने वाला

आदिम ख़ुशबू से भरा जंगल

–

कल मौसम की पहली बारिश हुई

और आज यह दरवाज़ा

चौखट में फँसने लगा है

वह बंद होना नहीं चाहता

ठीक दरख़्तों की तरह

एक कटे हुए जिस्म में

पेड़ का ख़ून फिर दौड़ने लगा है

और यह दरवाज़ा बचपन की स्मृतियों में खो गया है

–

याद आने लगा है

किस तरह वह बाँहें फैलाकर

हज़ारों हथेलियों में समेटा करता था

बारिश को

और झूमने लगता था

वह स्मृतियों में फिर हरा हुआ है।

I’m looking forward to Ahmedabad’s rains. Happy monsoon, friends 🌧️🌿