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 Jordan Gross. 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?
