Ever since my childhood, I have had a love for taking pictures. It all started with a young kid
(yeah, it’s me :)) with a low-resolution point-and-shoot camera, dreaming of shooting whatever he
found interesting. Over time, I tried out numerous techniques and compositions, and my passion for
photography grew stronger. During my bachelor univerity years, a friend of mine and I documented
historical temples and artefacts around my hometown. In May 2019, I purchased a Canon 77D, which
I have been using ever since. Gradually, I strengthen my knowledge of composition and learnt
different camera techniques. I, personally feel photography helps me develop a keen eye to notice
beauty in the world around me and sculpt every single component to portray the story.
Here is a short story describing my thought process and experience while capturing the glorious
Milky Way.
Capturing the Milky Way had always been a dream of mine, but my first attempt in April 2020 was a comedy of errors. At 1:30 AM, I found myself debating with my mom for half an hour about where the galaxy actually was. When I finally pinpointed it between constellations, light pollution washed out the shot. Determined to learn, I started shooting time-lapses to better understand the night sky’s movement.
A month later, I tried a darker location, but clouds blocked the view. I didn't give up, though; I used the downtime to master techniques for shooting in light-polluted areas. That preparation finally paid off on a ride with my dad. We hit a pitch-dark patch of road, so I asked him to stop the bike, set up my tripod, and clicked the shutter. Boom! The first clear image appeared on my screen, leaving me absolutely stunned. It was a challenging journey of trial and error, which makes sharing these images even more rewarding
I guess you could say I speak music. I picked up beatboxing in high school, mostly because I thought it was great that you could mimic a drum kit with just your voice. I kept practicing through bachelor univerity days, learning new techniques and patterns along the way. I'm still learning, but it’s become my favorite creative outlet to let out some emotion and energy.
Here are a few clips of a Beatbox competition (2021) and a short interview.
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CALISTHENICS
Through my journey, I strongly believe that working out helps me develop the mental fortitude more
than it does to my physical strength. It enormously callused my mind to be self-disciplined and push
my boundaries every day despite the hardships. I follow a workout routine of Push, Pull, Leg, Mobility and Endurance cyclically for 6 days, followed by a rest day on a week.
Here is my workout tracker graph, depicting the percentage of days I adhered to my above routine for
the past 4 year
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click on the image
Note: April 2021 is not a calculation error.
Strava Activities
Cooking
I’ve always wanted to cook and explore different cuisines around the world. So in September 2025, I decided to start a fun culinary challenge: cooking dishes from different countries every week. I divided the world into 12 regions and picked 7 countries from each one. Every night, I cooked one dish that I felt truly represented that country’s cuisine or somthing that I wanted to try out.
Throughout this journey, I discovered so many new ingredients and cooking techniques. It was fascinating to see how cuisines from different parts of the world can feel so similar yet so unique at the same time. Finding specific ingredients was sometimes tricky, but I actually enjoyed the process of searching local stores and occasionally traveling out of town just to get that one special item.
I originally planned to document everything in detail, like cooking time, taste, appearance, and difficulty level, but keeping up with that alongside daily cooking turned out to be tough. That said, I did manage to take photos of every dish. Over 13 weeks (12 regions plus one buffer week to catch up on missed dishes), I ended up cooking 84 dishes from 84 different countries.
I truly enjoyed the entire experience. Cooking something new every night was exciting, and sometimes my friends even helped with prep work. I also got dish recommendations from friends from different countries, which made the journey even more special. As always, I am very pleased to share the food with them and hear their feedback.
Overall, this was an amazing learning experience of understanding and appreciating different cultures through their food. I’ve added several of these dishes to my regular cooking rotation, and I’m genuinely proud of myself for completing this challenge. If I ever do this again, I’d love to focus more on documenting the process and learning even more about each country and its culture.