About Me — Akshad Singi
A writer. A future doctor. A ukulele player.
Two days ago, I was meditating at the promenade in Pondicherry — a city on India's East coast. Normally, my chosen anchor for meditation is my breath. However, that day it was the sound of waves. Whenever I started to drift off into the sea of thoughts, I’d slowly bring my attention back to the waves in the sea.
After a while, something amazing happened. Slowly, and unintentionally, my breath started to sync in with the waves. Inhale — the wave would rise. Exhale — the wave would crash. It was extraordinary.
In fact, every single one of the last seven days has been extraordinary. I explored Pondicherry and Auroville — places I’ve come to fall in love with. Truly, it was one of the most amazing weeks of my life.
Yet, a part of me was losing his mind.
Why? Because I couldn’t find the time to write as I wasn’t travelling alone. Only now, on the journey back home, can I find the time to write this.
So, I could tell you that I write because I love writing. And it would be true. But more accurately, I write because I can’t not write. I go crazy if I go a while without writing.
Unlike many others on Medium, I never had a burning desire to be a writer. I never wrote in school. In fact, the first time I ever actually wrote was only a little over seven months ago.
And I’ll be honest with you — I may have started writing on Medium because I saw people making money here. However, writing has given me much more. It has literally given me everything.
I know myself infinitely better. I understand a lot more of life. And whatever I don’t, I now know that I have a tool at my disposal to make sense of anything and everything I’ll ever need to. Obviously, writing is that tool.
I often use a metaphor when I try to convince my friends to start writing. I believe that before writing, my mind was like headphones that you leave in your pockets — excessively tangled.
And what writing has done, is it untangled my mind. The self-awareness and consciousness that I have gained because of writing are off the charts.
So that is why I write.
What I have achieved on Medium so far is literally nothing compared to several other amazing writers. Even then, I have achieved much more than I ever thought I could.
I’ve made decent money, become a 9x top writer here, befriended extraordinary people, have had many people appreciate my work, and really grown as a writer — and as a person.
A person whom I’m extremely grateful for supporting me through this journey is . Since Mind Cafe is my favourite publication to write for, Jordan, one of its editors, has really helped me grow as a writer. He’s a skilful editor, a gifted writer with an amazing knack for storytelling, and a wonderful human being.
Some Other Facts About Me
- I turned 22-years-old on the day of writing this piece.
- I’m in 3rd year of medical school, hoping to do my post-graduation in neurology someday.
- I live in a city called Nagpur, which is situated right in the centre of India.
- I’ve taken it as a challenge to run at least a mile every single day in 2021. I like running. Running is like meditation for me.
- I have a Ukulele which I have named Lorelei. I like to strum my evenings away.
- I quit all social media years ago because I wanted a quieter and more reclusive life. Due to my writing journey, only recently did I make a Twitter account and I think I have a whopping 13 followers. In case you ever want to have a chat with me or be my friend, please feel free to respond to any of my articles or send me an email that’s given in my bio.
- When I was 17, I broke both of my hands in an accident. The bones in my left hand were dislocated, and it took surgery to fix them. To this day, my wrists are still a little weak. At the time, it seemed like the worst moment of my life. However, in retrospect, that accident completely changed my life. How? That’s a story for another time.
- I speak some Spanish. If you do too, me encantaría ser tu amigo!
- John Mayer is my favourite singer. I ABSOLUTELY love him. Edge of desire, free fallin’ and XO are some of my favourite songs.
- I have a circumferential wave tattooed on my ankle. I honoured my tattoo when I took my first few surfing lessons in November last year. Surfing is so much fun. If you haven’t, you need to give it a shot.
- I own a dictaphone which I often use to record good conversations with my girlfriend and my friends. (With their permission, of course.) I hope to have hours and hours of conversations recorded to listen to when I’m old and grey.
- I like to rewatch the final episodes of several TV shows like The Office, FRIENDS, Suits, etc. again and again and get a good cry on. I feel that the endings of good TV shows are some of the most profound moments of my life.
- Some of my favourite movies are — Dead Poet’s Society, The Theory of Everything and American Beauty.
- I did a 10-day course of Vipassana when I was 18. I was too young to understand the philosophies then, but in the past few months, I revisited the lessons to write about them, and they freaking changed my life. I highly suggest trying out Vipassana at least once.
My Top 5 Articles on Medium
The lyrics of one of my favourite songs by Lee Ann Womack go like this —
And if you get the choice to sit it out or dance… I hope you dance.
That’s what I think life is about for me. I may be a lousy dancer, but I’m still trying to dance about this crooked dancefloor that we call life. Would you like to join me?
