Category: Series

half moonshine, full eclipse || summer diaries #2

maya rajesh38 Comments

I was in class the other day (yeah not so much summer BREAK, but it’s just summer) when my physics teacher started on this mountain analogy. My friends don’t like him because he’s prone to incessant yapping and once he begins… he does NOT stop. But this one sort of stayed with me.

He said that we’ve just climbed one mountain (finishing half of high school.) For us, it seems like we’ve reached the peak – it is, after all, the culmination of everything we’ve been working for these past two years. But why assume life is just one mountain?

We’ve got infinite mountains ahead of us, and sure, some may be taller, some may be little hills, but they’re obstacles all the same. They’re milestones, even.

And we did it, we finally climbed our first one. But if we’re solely focused on the next one, we’re just robots; we don’t spend any time cherishing what we have, or what we did. So yeah, it’s important to look forward but I think it’s just as important to stay rooted to the here and now. What’s life without a little celebration?

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travel diary: a summer in australia 🌸

maya rajesh32 Comments

And for a fortnight there, we were forever

These last two weeks, I had the privilege of touring the island country-continent of Australia (side note: only two continents left for me now—South America + Antarctica!) It feels longer somehow because it’s too huge a country to “finish” in two weeks. Or months. Or years, maybe.

I only hope I get the opportunity to see the rest of that beautiful place. We went to 4 main areas: Sydney, Melbourne, The Great Ocean Drive, and Port Douglas. Sydney was probably my favourite because of how metropolitan yet calm it seemed. It’s somewhere I’d like to live in the future.

Australia has everything you could want—great food, good views, ample wildlife—and I finally get to document whatever little I saw. This trip included experiences I’d never had before and for that, I’m so grateful. We actually went during Australia’s fall so the title isn’t entirely accurate! Anyway, without further ado: Australia, through my eyes.

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summer diaries #1: the weakest shade of blue🌀

maya rajesh23 Comments

I hate this feeling.

This terrible, gnawing feeling inside of me. It’s bittersweet and nostalgic, and I cannot, for the life of me, put my finger on it. But I know I hate it.

The closest thing I could find to describing this inexplicable feeling was the Pernice Brothers’ The Weakest Shade of Blue. It strikes a chord in me; it pulls a string I didn’t know could be strung.

It’s the feeling of an ending. Yet, the start of something new. It’s how you feel when you’re seeing someone for presumably the last time. Or you think of what could have been. When you graduate. When you’re on the fence, and you decide to leap.

And I’m leaping.

Because while things are ending, the weakest shade of blue means
the start
of something new.

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summer diaries #2: travel diary — italy

maya rajesh24 Comments

This summer, we travelled to Italy. It was around 19 days of pure bliss: pizzas and gelatos, museums and sculptures and rich, rich culture. It’s unreal how many different people and places this world is home to; we seem to only know ours. Anyway, I write this the day after we landed back home (knowing life’s tendency to cascade into chaos) in the hopes that it’s coherent and does the trip justice.

Europe—with its lush green pastures, quaint towns and magnificent panoramic views—has always been one of those places you could spend ages in. Just taking it all in. Italy is the epitome of Europe’s fascinating beauty.

Italy just so happens to be one of those places where the place looks exactly like the pictures. No filter. It’s like someone copy-pasted their Pinterest board onto it. It is simply unbelievable—almost as though words aren’t quite enough to describe the place (but then again, they never quite suffice.) And that’s coming from someone who practically worships good literature.

We visited five gorgeous places + Vatican City and that’s how this post is divided. So before I digress: here’s Italy, through my eyes.

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summer diaries #1: and yet, we march on || new beginnings & change 🌱

maya rajesh18 Comments

2023.

In all honesty, I’m still taking it in.

I kid you not, two weeks ago, at around 11 in the morning, I was updating my Goodreads and needed to change the ‘read’ date and on the dropdown menu, it read “April 1” and I went berserk. There is no way it’s already April. We’re already more than three months in.

Time never ceases to amaze me (as I’m sure anyone who knows me knows.) My friends and I have been in awe – freshman year of high school is already over. It seems like yesterday we were all nervous in that giddy-excited way, making our way through the gates, and seeing each other after summer break…

And we’re here. It’s summer again. Except I’m going to be a year older soon. And I feel myself trying to hold on to the memories, relish the moment but it’s like grasping for water: you have it for a moment, you feel the coolness on your skin, and just like that; it’s gone.

I write this a couple weeks after a terrorizing set of finals (you wouldn’t believe the relief) and my life just has all this empty space in it – it’s the perfect time for me to pick up a new project, or write some songs, or finish editing my draft… but I find myself unwilling to do something “productive.”

Because, after all, we all need a break sometimes don’t we? (aka, me trying to justify the fact that I haven’t posted since last year. Yes, I’m aware.)

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