Off the Beat

Nothing screams Cal more than bright, screaming students running on Sproul trying to make it past Sather Gate while getting flyered by tabling clubs.

Learning to discover what I love to eat and making sure I get what I need nutritionally was the biggest obstacle I’ve faced in college. It’s amazing how small barriers can have such large consequences on an individual’s overall quality of life.

I hated most of all that, no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t do anything. No matter how much I wanted to be, I couldn’t be enough.

I understand that I probably sound kind of dramatic, but it was disheartening when the institution I’d dedicated so much of my time to shifted into one I felt the need to avoid.

With every step I’ve taken towards reconciling with my identity, I’ve realized how much there is still to learn — or how much I’ll never be able to learn.

Learning so much about bacteria made me realize how blind I had been to the world around me. To underestimate these amazing organisms now seems unacceptable.

It's in all the little mannerisms and phrases I've stolen from “you”, it's in the way I dress and the way I define love; all little pieces of you that are stitched into my identity, woven seamlessly into my life, seasoning all of my experiences like a familiar recipe.

Whenever my conscious mind wavers in its steps, the tacitly knowledgeable mover within me unveils a rhyme to reason.

I’m an immigrant, and Malayalam is my mother tongue. I’m an immigrant, and Malayalam is my second language. Both are true, but the latter I’ve always hated.

The concept of “main character moments” has surfaced as the new fantasy that people yearn for. These are the moments that make you feel like you own the world for even just a second, and that all the eyes of surrounding outsiders are on you.