Samrudhi Kaushik

The day I got this opportunity, I couldn’t believe that I am gonna relive my childhood again.

And the first thing that came to my mind was — oh, I never thought I could facilitate such a workshop. I was so excited to spend time with kids, assist them, and just know their ideas of how they would make some character out of their broken toys and all those random things around them. And all these thoughts were already going on in my head a month before everything actually happened.

Then finally the day came, and I reached the venue. Seeing all the colourful materials, I slowly started feeling free to experiment with them and after half an hour, the kids started coming, full of energy and excitement to create and have fun. Watching them sit with all those materials and play with whatever ideas came to their mind… it was such a beautiful thing to witness.

The way they decorated their characters, the way they imagined things from the materials available to them within a few minutes, just made me wonder how creative and free we all were as kids. Nothing had to make sense completely and still we would enjoy creating things out of it.

And while sitting there with them, I started reminiscing about my own childhood days when I also used to collect all the things people considered “waste” and then sit down to create something out of it. I loved imagining how something could turn into some decorative piece or some random creative stuff (maybe I hated the idea of throwing away things, I still do 🤫).

So somehow, this workshop with didn’t feel like I am the one facilitating but more like I am getting to relive a part of my childhood again.

After living a year in Kochi, I would consider this experience to be the most fun and I’m really glad that such workshops take place because sometimes we genuinely forget how naturally creative we used to be before growing up.

My recent Vagamon trip was a little different, I gave myself a break

This journey justified a thought for me: you never know what you want until you experience what you don’t.✨🙌



Travel sketch, travel art, journal, sketch, watercolour, painting, trek

These pictures are from 2023, during my internship days in Delhi.

I remember how excited I was to move there and experience the city. It was also my first time in a completely strange place, with new people and a 9 to 5 work life, and some part of me was very thrilled to actually live it.

But those months turned out to be a complete roller coaster, something that I never anticipated (and I know that’s the best part 🫣). There were some really beautiful moments, but also many low ones that taught me a lot about myself and about the kind of life I actually want to create for myself.

While I was on this journey, one thing that became very clear to me was what I don’t ever want to make Samrudhi go through in life.

At the same time, Delhi also gave me some really happy memories. On weekends and after my internship ended, I spent days just wandering around the city, sketching places, creating art, and enjoying the things I love doing (exploring vegan cafés 😋).

Today I was reflecting on how far Samrudhi has come — from being a shy, inexpressive person to someone who loves meeting people (but has a limited battery), communicates what she feels, goes out of her comfort zone to make sure she is joyful inside, and is learning not to be very critical about her decisions.

These photos remind me of that particular phase of my life when I was slowly becoming honest with myself and brave enough to listen to what truly brings me joy.

It was also the time I realized that maybe I don’t want to work as an architect professionally, but I definitely want to be the architect of my own life and design it in a way that feels meaningful to me.

Fun fact: Samrudhi is still not completely sure what she wants to become, but now she is okay with that 😎